


Kissed by the ocean

by TropicalDepressionKatya



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: F/F, Lesbian AU, im not gonna stop writing these until you accept me as your leader, tw: (nearly) drowning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-05-29 22:53:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 39,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15083501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TropicalDepressionKatya/pseuds/TropicalDepressionKatya
Summary: After an evening that could be called suspicious, Brianna isn't able to let the events go. Whoever said that the unknown was a blessing, hasn't been through the same as she has. However, trying to figure out what happened, she gets in more problems than she had thought.





	1. Chapter one

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back again! With a new concept, more time, and some motivation! I hope you'll enjoy this! Let me know what you think and make me feel validated? Also, if you have a Tumblr, you should totally follow me, I post prompts, drabbles and snippets there! I would love it if you came to talk to me there :3  
> @tropicaldepressionkatya  
> I hope you enjoy *kissy kissy*

It’s funny, when you come to think about it, that the things you fear most, are less likely to hurt you than the things that make you happy. Children are scared of monsters in the closet, of the dark. But a monster has never touched a child. A monster has never hurt anyone, mostly because no one had ever proved that one actually existed. The dark had never hurt anyone, either. No one was scared of their preschool teacher, or from the man that drove around in the ice cream van. But the dark never killed anyone, the people you wouldn’t expect to do something like that did. And kids wouldn’t expect that from their teacher. Of from man who gave them extra chocolate on their ice cream if they pouted well enough. Hurt was a funny thing, really. 

But then, there was this concept called pain. Everyone has at least felt it once in their life, there was no one walking around telling people pain didn’t exist. It might just be a reaction from your brain, but if anyone would say that as an argument, hundredths of people would know just what to say to make sure they didn’t think like that anymore. Or agree, but say that that didn’t make it any less real. 

That was another thing that made the world a weird place. People wanted everyone to share their own beliefs, no matter how silly they were. The spaghetti monster. The world is flat. But in the end, did it really matter if everyone believed the same thing? 

The last thing Brianna should be thinking about, would be everything she was thinking about. She was drowning, after all. However, she was over the fear. She didn’t have enough oxygen left for that. She couldn’t swim up. She didn’t know why, but she couldn’t. She looked up, the surface far above her. What if the world really was flat? Would it matter? Brianna guessed not. She knew that the earth was, in fact, round, but having a flat earth seemed cool enough. Not that they would feel the difference. 

It wasn’t much like Brianna to give up, but she was already floating between being awake and possibly dying. It didn’t matter anymore. Not really. She wasn’t scared of water. She wasn’t scared of drowning. She wasn’t scared of dying. Maybe dying now would be the best idea, since she hadn’t accomplished anything in her life yet. Maybe, if the same thing happened in two years, she would be scared. Because maybe in two years, she would have something to lose. 

It was a sad thought, really. But sometimes those were the most comforting ones. When you’re facing death, picturing the best moments of your life would be quite idiotic, mostly because if you did, you would feel like you have something to lose. So thinking about how sad your life was, actually helped. 

That was why Brianna felt peaceful with the knowledge she would die. She saw a fish swim by rather fast. She thought it was a fish, at least. That flash of darkness would be the last beautiful thing she would see. She didn’t even see its colors properly, so she imagined it to look like Dory from Finding Nemo. She liked Dory. She always forgot everything, she had a lot of energy. It was quite sad that Brianna was thinking about Dory in her last moments, but she didn’t regret it. She felt herself slip unconscious, the image of a Dory-fish in her mind. 

That was supposed to be the end. She was ready to see the light, start a new life or go to sleep forever. But she didn’t. She felt something slippery, and she could breathe again. It was troubled, but she could. However, she couldn’t open her eyes, but she felt that she was moving fast. She felt cold, extremely cold. She was scared. Being scared was worse than dying. What if she stayed like this forever? Awake, but not quite yet. Breathing, but not really. Not living, but breathing. Maybe she was in a coma. That seemed realistic. 

Maybe she was being saved, but too close to death to realize. Sure, why not. She hoped she would fall unconscious again, the nothingness was more comforting than the not knowing. Maybe the universe was kind of okay, because soon after she found herself hoping, she felt nothing anymore. 

Brianna didn’t know how long she had been laying on the sand when she woke up, but she was still wet. The waves were crashing over her legs, and she didn’t feel like moving. The stars were quite beautiful. They were bright. No light pollution. It wasn’t until the cold got the best of her that she tried to sit up. She wasn’t in pain, she didn’t feel like she swallowed or breathed in water. Brianna felt totally fine, except for the cold. She didn’t know where she was, though. The beach, that was for sure. She wondered if her parents would have noticed that she was gone so late. 

She got up, still feeling perfectly fine. She knew she had been drowning, she just wasn’t sure how long ago that was, and she didn’t really care. She felt light-headed, and knew that something happened. She didn’t wash up on the shore all by herself. 

Brianna didn’t at all know where to go, but she did know that there were always rich people living near the beach, and she was quite hungry. 

The beach houses were actually on the beach, which was something Brianna rarely saw. She couldn’t imagine herself living there, the sand would get on her nerves. Only one of the houses had the lights turned on, so the obvious choice was that one. She knocked on the door. She didn’t feel anything. She didn’t feel happy she was alive. She didn’t feel nervous about not remembering anything. She felt like she was just… on a numb cloud. It wasn’t necessarily bad, considering what she had been through. 

A middle-aged woman opened the door, frowning at the barefooted, covered in sand, dead looking girl in front of her. At least, that’s what Brianna could read from her face. 

“Are you alright?” 

“I’m not sure,” Brianna didn’t recognize her own voice. “I was drowning, but I was saved. I don’t know by who. Or when. I don’t even know where I am.” The woman’s eyes got soft, and she stepped aside. 

“Please, come in. I’ll get you some clothes.” Brianna walked into the large hall, amazed by how big the house was. She saw a girl run up the stairs, slamming the door a little louder than she needed to. “Are you sure you’re okay? Do I need to call a doctor?” 

“No, no,” Brianna said, unable to explain how she felt okay. “I feel fine I just… I don’t remember what happened. Where am I?” 

“South Beach,” The woman frowned, moving past Brianna. “Come on, I’ll get you some tea and dry clothes.” Brianna followed the lady, following her to the kitchen. She watched her put the water boiler on, smiling as she quickly left. 

The kitchen was beautiful. The chairs looked like they were made out of expensive leather, and Brianna didn’t want to sit on them with her wet bathing suit. Coming to think of that, she probably made the floor dirty. 

“Here you go,” She handed Brianna a pair of leggings and a blue sweater. “You can take a shower, if you want. Can I have your mom’s phone number? I’ll call her for you.” 

Brianna gave her mother’s phone number, took the clothes and followed the woman who showed her the bathroom. “I’m sorry, what’s your name?” 

“Brianna,” She gave the woman a thankful smile. “Thank you.” 

“No problem, there are towels in that cabinet and shampoo in the one next to it, take your time.” 

The woman disappeared again, and Brianna felt herself coming down from her rush. Her head was starting to hurt a little, and her muscles were cold and sore, but she didn’t feel like how someone was supposed to feel after drowning. Well, nearly drowning. 

Now that she was starting to feel like herself again, she wondered how she survived. She remembered the Dory-fish, and as if she was floating, but still moving fast. That’s all she could remember. 

Most of the scents in the soap cabin were sea or raspberry, and Brianna didn’t want to smell the sea for a while. So, she picked the raspberry shampoo, even though she wasn’t the biggest fan, now wasn’t the time to be picky. 

The warm water warmed her up again, her muscles relaxing. She hadn’t realized how cold she actually had been. The sand drifted off of her, and Brianna had never felt cleaner. It wasn’t very long before she got out, feeling bad for using their water. She got dressed in the pair of leggings, cursing herself for being short, or the owner for being tall, it’s all about perspective. 

She pulled her hair back into a bun, and walked out smelling like a raspberry. Brianna wondered why these people had a couch in their hallway, but she was even more surprised to see a girl sitting in it. She was around Brianna’s age, but she couldn’t tell for sure. She was busy texting. 

“Excuse me,” Brianna didn’t know why, but she had to talk to her. It was as if a force was pushing her to talk to the girl. The girl looked up, a tiny smile on her lips. “Where is the kitchen?” 

The girl pointed towards a large wooden door, but didn’t say a word. She was wearing a yellow dress, which looked beautiful on her. Brianna wondered if she could talk. “Thank you,” She was debating whether or not to ask her anything else. “I’m Brianna.” 

The girl smiled, nodding and waving. Brianna suspected that she couldn’t talk, but wasn’t brave enough to ask her. “Nice to meet you.” The girl nodded, going back to texting, which Brianna took as her cue to leave. 

“You’re back already,” The woman smiled, gesturing for Brianna to take a seat as she poured hot water in a bowl with a tea bag. “I called your mom, she’s on her way to pick you up.” 

“Really? That’s nice of her, sorry for keeping you up.” 

“Oh, don’t worry, it’s quite alright, Brianna.” Brianna smiled, wrapping her fingers around her cup. Why hadn’t the lady offered her a sandwich? 

“Can I ask you something?” 

“Sure,” The lady seemed nice enough, and Brianna wondered if she would survive not knowing that little detail. 

“Who was the girl in the hallway? She had blonde hair, didn’t talk much.” 

“That’s Aquaria,” The lady smiled brightly at the mention of the girl. “She can’t speak, at least, I think she can’t. She hasn’t said a word since she arrived.” 

“Oh,” Brianna was relieved it wasn’t because of her, but sad because the girl couldn't talk. She looked like she had a beautiful voice. “That’s sad.” 

The lady shrugged, smiling slightly. “Not everyone is perfect,” It was hard to believe that. People were like snowflakes, perfect and unique in their own way. “Can you tell me what happened?” 

Brianna looked at her cup. She wasn’t crazy. “I honestly don’t remember,” Brianna said. “I mean, I probably was saved by someone who didn’t want to be seen.” 

The lady hummed in response. “How did you end up in the water?”

Brianna searched through her brain, she wanted to go swimming, but her mother didn’t want to come with her. She remembered saying that was okay, because she was 21, after all. “I think I went swimming, but I guess there was a stream of water that pulled me further in the sea.” 

“Your mom said you were staying at North Beach.” Brianna nodded, taking a small sip. “If you’re driving, that would be two hours. How the hell did you end up here?” 

“I told you, I don’t know,” Brianna softly said, the woman’s voice had something mean, but not entirely. As if she had lost something and wanted to know what happened to it. Bitter. “Maybe a boat?” 

“Would a boat leave you unconscious?” Brianna knew a boat hadn’t saved her, but how would she explain what she felt? Not that she wanted to explain, really. 

“Ma’am, I really don’t remember, I’m sorry.” Her eyes softened again, and she sighed. 

“I’m sorry, my daughter drowned three years ago, seeing you here made me believe she might still be alive.” 

But if she hadn’t searched for contact, she was either dead, or didn’t want to be found. Both options sounded horrible, really. Brianna didn’t say anything, which was probably smart and sipped her tea in the awkward silence. 

Brianna wondered why the woman even said that her daughter drowned. It didn’t really make sense, after all. She didn’t even know the woman’s name. Maybe it was just the late hour. Or just the fact that Brianna claimed to have nearly drowned. Maybe it was envy, because she was saved, and her daughter wasn’t. 

But it also made the young woman think about who Aquaria was. 

However, Brianna tried her hardest not to think about what happened to her, knowing that there wouldn’t be an answer to that. Whoever saved her, didn’t want to be seen. She just had to try and forget that it even happened. 

“So, Brianna,” The woman smeared her throat, hoping to break the uncomfortable silence. “You’re in college?” 

“University,” She said. “I’ll start my last year in a couple of weeks.” 

“What are you majoring?” It was this kind of small talk that made Brianna long for the silence again. 

“English,” Brianna tried to keep her head cool, but she really wanted to go home. She didn’t want to talk about this. She just wanted to left alone to think. “It’s a lot of fun, really.” 

“Aquaria is going to switch majors this year, she’ll get a dorm for the first time.” 

“Oh?” It was hard to imagine that the girl wasn’t old enough for uni, so it probably was her second, maybe third year. Switching schools usually had a reason, though. 

“Yes, there were some troubles on her old school. They didn’t… act well with her… situation.” 

As if Aquaria knew they were talking about her, she walked in, smiling at her… guardian? And Brianna, opening the fridge and grabbing a water bottle. Brianna was quite mesmerized by the way she moved. Aquaria seemed to float over the raft, her movements elegant, but still had a hint of clumsy when she nearly dropped the milk. 

The lady didn’t say anything to Aquaria, but Aquaria waved them goodbye before closing the door. Brianna had the feeling that a lot of things were going on in that house, but of course, she couldn’t ask, even though she was very curious. 

Before the lady could try to make some more small talk, there was a loud, continuous knock on the door. “That’s probably your mother,” the lady said, getting up. Brianna quickly drank the last of her tea, placing the mug back on the table and following her to the door. Her mom was looking worried, hugging her daughter as soon as the door opened and she spotted the tiny girl. 

“Brianna,” She breathes out as her daughter hugged her back. “I was so worried, what happened?” 

Her mother held her at an arm length distance, frowning. “I don’t really know-“ 

“Ma’am, thank you so much,” Her mom didn’t even let her finish. “Is there anything I can do to repay you?” 

“That’s alright,” The lady smiled. “I’m happy your daughter is okay.” 

“Oh, Bri,” her mom hugged her again, shorter this time. “Let’s go home.” 

“Thanks,” Brianna said to the woman, flashing her a smile as she glanced around the room to catch a glimpse of Aquaria. Unfortunately, the blonde girl wasn’t around. 

“Yes, thank you so much,” As if Brianna was a little kid, her mom held her hand. For once, Brianna didn’t fight it, and followed her mom to the blue car. 

She let her head rest against the window as she listened to her mom ramble without really listening. It didn’t take her long to fall asleep. And the fact that she recently nearly drowned, gave her mother no right to be upset with her.


	2. Chapter two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not going to lie, this chapter is a mess, but!!! It's a needed mess that will hopefully make sense later! I hope you enjoy anyways, though! Also if you want to talk to me (I'm a sunshine, I swear) you can do that on my tumblr @tropicaldepressionkatya

“Love you,” Her mom kissed her cheek. “I’ll see you in a few weeks, okay?” 

Brianna smiled, answering with an I love you back, closing the door behind her mother. It would only be a few weeks before she would be spending the weekend home again, anyway. She had survived without her mom for longer than that. She knew that Blair would be her roommate again. They had been, since the first year. 

Blair was an absolute delight, honestly. She didn’t mind making breakfast, she didn’t mind if Brianna didn’t have time to help with the dishes. Sometimes Brianna had to stop herself from taking advantage of the other girl, who just was too sweet. 

Sometimes Brianna wondered if they would work out. As a couple, that is. She guessed it would work out, Brianna always made her laugh, and Blair genuinely cared for her. However, Blair was dating Vanessa, and Brianna wasn’t desperate enough to be sad about that. 

She was unpacking her bags, putting her clothes in her closet, and making her bed. It wasn’t long before Blair came in, her dad pulling two of her suitcases. Brianna noticed that her mom wasn’t with them, which was quite unusual. Brianna watched them quickly say goodbye before Blair ran to her, hugging her tightly. 

“I missed you,” She smiled, kissing her cheek. “We didn’t even meet up this summer!” 

“You were busy banging Vanessa,” Brianna teased, helping Blair with her suitcases, laughing at her blush. “I didn’t know it was true, you have to tell me everything.” 

Blair huffed, opening her suitcase and putting her clothes in the closet. It didn’t take her very long to break the silence. “Anyhow, what did you do?” 

“You mean who?” Brianna raised her eyebrows, a small smirk on her face. 

“Oh, my god, I can’t talk with you, can I?” Blair laughed, looking at her friend from the opposite side of the room. 

“Okay, okay,” Brianna laughed. “Let’s see, I went to the beach. I worked at starbucks for a few weeks before I got fired.” 

“Typical you,” Blair smiled, and stopped her work, just looking at her focussed friend. “Brianna, I love you.” 

“Are you okay?” Brianna laughed, not looking at her friend. Before she did and saw she looked sad. “What’s wrong? Blair?” 

“It’s probably nothing,” Blair tried to smile, sitting down on her bed. “My mom is in the hospital right now. She’s sick, they just don’t know what’s wrong.” 

Brianna was a good friend, so she dropped her dress the second Blair started her story, sitting next to her on the bed. “Oh, Blair, I’m so sorry.” 

“It’s alright,” Blair smiled sadly, the girl sure was optimistic. “She’ll be alright, she’s strong.” 

Unfortunately, Brianna wasn’t the best person when it came to comforting, so she just patted her shoulder lightly. “You’re right, she’ll be alright. If you need anything…” 

“I can find you at the smoothie bar, I know.” Blair smiled, wiping her eyes shortly. “Speaking of, can we go there?” 

“You haven’t even made your bed,” Brianna chuckled, but she didn’t need much motivation to go to her favorite place on earth. Blair was already putting her coat on. 

“Can I ask Vanessa to join?” 

“Like you haven’t planned that from the beginning.”   
-  
When Blair, vanessa and Brianna were seated and placed their order, the couple was all over each other, Blair blushing and Vanessa poking fun of that. Brianna wasn’t paying that much attention to them. They only paid attention to each other, after all. 

It was easy to forget where she was, if she closed her eyes, she could nearly feel the cool sea-breeze on her skin. Even though the beach scenario happened almost a month ago, Brianna hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it. Something strange was going on, and Brianna was searching for answers. Whoever said that the unknown was a blessing, obviously hadn’t been through anything. 

“A large chocolate milkshake and a medium strawberry milkshake?” Brianna looked up at the lady who placed the milkshakes down. “Enjoy!” 

The lady walked away, and Vanessa said something along the lines of; “Bitch, this is one big ass milkshake!”, but Brianna wasn’t sure. She took her own strawberry milkshake, glancing outside again. This was her favorite time of the year; new students looking amazed, students who went there for years looking tired already, and couple holding hands as they left to go to the city, or just enjoying some sun. 

“What’s on your mind, Brianna?” Blair asked, sipping from one of the straws from her giant milkshake. 

“Oh, nothing much,” Brianna smiled. “How’s yours?” She pointed at the milkshake, sipping from her own. It was her last year, and she had never tried anything but the strawberry and chocolate milkshake.   
“Amazing,” Blair smiled. “Even better because I’m sharing it with Vanessa.” 

“I love you,” Vanessa kissed Blair’s cheek, and Brianna knew they were holding hands under the table. That was okay, though, she was happy her friend found someone she loved. Brianna smiled, and when she glanced at the door behind the couple, her jaw dropped to the floor. 

Aquaria walked into the smoothie place, writing down something on a notepad and sliding the paper over the counter and handing the lady some money. 

“Your friend looks like she’s seen a ghost,” Vanessa pointed out, but Brianna couldn’t care less at that point. She didn’t care when Aquaria looked into her direction, surprised to see the girl that had been in her house one evening. “Girl, what are you looking at?” Vanessa got up, finally pulling Brianna out of her trance. She was quite shocked to see the younger girl at her university. It 

“Vanjie, sit down,” Brianna hissed, looking away from Aquaria. “It’s nothing, just someone I didn’t expect to see here.” 

“The girl with the blonde curls?” Blair focussed back on Brianna, pulling her girlfriend down with her, shutting her up. “She’s beautiful, how did you meet her?” 

Brianna glanced at Aquaria, biting her lip. She hadn’t noticed her nails were digging in her palm. Slowly, she relaxed her hands. “I met her on the beach, it was late and I had some troubles. She’s mute.” 

Blair didn’t say anything, but Vanessa turned around again. “Hey, girl!” She called, and Brianna was already blushing. “Yeah, you!” Vanessa said when Aquaria looked confused. “Wanna sit with us?” 

Carefully, Aquaria moved closer, frowning, but smiling at Brianna. “Hey, Aquaria, right?” Brianna tried to fight her blush, Vanessa was so embarrassing. “Oh, sorry, you can sit, if you want.” Brianna scooted over, and Aquaria sat down next to Brianna, while Brianna was taking a mental note to kill Vanessa later. 

“So, your first day, huh?” Vanessa and Blair were looking at Aquaria as if they saw a dog walking a hamster while smoking weed on a boat. 

Aquaria nodded, scribbling something down on her notepad. 

How are you? 

Brianna smiled, nodding. “Well, it’s my last year, so I know everything already.” 

“I’m sure she’d love to give you a tour, if you’d want that.” Blair butted in. 

“You really can’t talk?” Vanessa blurted, and Brianna kicked her under the table. 

“Ignore her, please. I don’t think she knows what manners are.” Aquaria looked like she felt out of place, which wasn’t that weird. 

Aquaria scribbled something down again, her handwriting certainly was beautiful. 

Nice seeing you again, but I really need to go now, I’m sorry.

At that very moment, Brianna hated herself, but more importantly: Vanessa. “Yeah, sure, no problem! I’ll probably be seeing you around.” She smiled at the girl, who flashed her an awkward smile, grabbing her smoothie (of course she was healthy), and walking away faster than a dog from a vacuum cleaner. 

When Aquaria closed the door behind her, Brianna slammed her head on the table, groaning. “Vanessa, I hope you sleep with a knife, because I am going to kill you.” 

“Bitch, what the fuck? Without me you wouldn’t even have talked to her!” Blair gently put a hand on her girlfriend’s amr, calming her down. 

“Darling, don’t get worked up, what you did probably didn’t help Brianna a lot.” 

“Girl, you too?” Vanessa was probably being too loud, and Brianna was more frustrated than angry. 

“You know what, don’t fight over this. I’ll just go and kick a hole in your wall as payback.” Brianna stuck out her tongue, grabbing her milkshake and sucking the straw with anger and frustration as she walked out of the building, back to her dorm. Seeing Aquaria at uni had been a surprise, but Vanessa embarresing her, was even worse, she wasn’t sure how she’d face Aquaria after this. 

“You look like shit,” Brianna looked up, almost dropping her drink. “Calm down, it’s just me.” Trixie was sitting on the floor, pink boots standing next to her, her head resting against the wall. 

“You don’t look much better,” Brianna said, leaning against the wall opposite of Trixie. “What’s going on with the floor and the shoes?” 

“Oh,” Trixie shrugged. “First year without Katya and I’m already losing at life.” 

“I thought you were the one keeping her together,” Brianna grinned, sliding down the wall and looking at her tall friend. “Apparently that was only partly true.” 

“Very funny,” Trixie rolled her eyes, chewing her gum loudly. “What about you?” 

“Vanessa was an asshole, she embarrassed me in front of someone I wanted to look good to.” 

“So someone you wanted to bang?” Trixie raised her eyebrow teasingly, but Brianna wasn’t feeling it. “Don’t beat yourself up, girl, we all make mistakes. I’m sure that-”

“I’ve been looking for you, Tracy!” Trixie and Brianna looked over to the voice, seeing Katya running towards them with the biggest grin. Trixie looked like she could burst out in butterflies from happiness. 

“Katya,” She got up, running towards her girlfriend and hugging her tight. “I didn’t know you were coming.” 

Brianna felt like she was invading a private moment, so with a quick ‘I’m leaving’, Brianna moved along, feeling slightly better after seeing her friend being reunited with her girlfriend. 

Back at her dorm, she continued unpacking, which was done faster than she would have liked, since there was nothing left to do. Blair would probably return late at night, knowing Vanessa. Trixie would be busy with Katya, and The Vixen didn’t start until next week. 

And thus, a boring afternoon started.   
-  
“Ayo sis!” Brianna didn’t need to look up to know that Aja had arrived. Maybe she should have, though. Aja rolled in on her roller skates, being pushed by Farrah, Sasha, followed by Adore, who was laughing uncontrollably, filming the whole thing. 

Brianna raised an eyebrow, but couldn’t help but laugh at her friend. “Sasha, push me to that blonde bitch over there.” 

“Rude!” Brianna called back, but pulled the chair back so Aja could sit. 

“It’s also rude that I don’t know how to roll skate, but I’m not complaining, am I?” Aja nearly fell while she tried to sit down, thanking Sasha. Adore sat down a few places behind them, high-fiving Aja as she passed, still laughing. 

“Your entrance was… something.” Brianna chuckled, putting down her phone. 

“Go big or go home,” Aja grinned. “Isn’t that what they say?” 

“You got that right,” Brianna took her compact mirror, quickly checking her makeup. “Why are you so extra?”

“Don’t pretend like you don’t like it,” Aja teased, but shutting up when their teacher walked in.   
-  
“Can you please roll me to my next class?” Aja asked as soon as their teacher dismissed the class. “Or better! Can you roll me to the room where all the first year students are! Let them know that I’m the shit.” 

“I’ll be late for my class if I do that,” Brianna said, grabbing her bag. “I don’t think I want to be late on my first day.” 

“Babe, you’ll skip class if you do it. It’ll be so worth it! Don’t be a little bitch, sis.” 

“Can’t argue with that,” Brianna laughed, putting her back on her back, helping Aja up and rolling her through the hallway. Surprisingly, nearly no one seemed to look weirdly at the duo. Maybe that was because Trixie usually rode around in her actually working kids car on the grounds. 

“Do you even know where we need to go?” 

“Nope,” Aja laughed. “I’m guessing over there!” She pointed at a door, and since Brianna didn’t know where else to go, she followed her friend’s finger, rolling her into the room. Bianca Del Rio, the teacher, just frowned at them, crossing her arms when Aja rolled in. 

“Ayo sis!” She repeated. “Brianna, spin me around!” Brianna tried to do so, but ended up failing, and Aja fell. “Bitch!” 

The students were laughing, and Brianna helped Aja up. Well, tried to. Aja wasn’t lying when she said she couldn’t roll skate. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but you’re going to leave now!” Mrs. Del Rio said, pointing to the door. 

“Ma, calm down, I can’t get up.” Aja tried to get up again, failing. Brianna looked around the room as she tried to help her friend while keeping a straight face. That’s when she saw Aquaria and nearly dropped Aja again. 

Aquaria was laughing, clapping her hands at the scene that was happening. “Don’t worry, I’ll carry her out, sorry, Mrs. Del Rio.” Brianna looked away from the blonde girl in the back of the room, grabbing Aja’s arms, pulling her away at just her arms, causing more people to laugh. 

“I guess you made one thing clear,” Brianna grinned when the door closed behind them. 

“That I’m cool and not afraid?” Aja tried, pulling herself up with the wall. 

“That you can’t roll skate.” Aja rolled her eyes.

“Whatever,” She laughed. “Do you want to go to the pool? We have 40 minutes to kill.” 

“Wait, this building has a pool?” 

“Girl, when are you going to start living?” 

Brianna followed Aja, well followed her direction, because Aja still couldn’t move on the skates, to the pool. She was quite happy she skipped class, not only because she got to see Aquaria laugh, but also because the pool was beautiful and poorly guarded. They could just roll in. Aja asked her to help her out of the skates, and soon, they were both in their underwear in the pool. 

“You’re right,” Brianna said, watching Aja float in the water. “I haven’t been living.” 

“I’m feeling some sort of deep story,” Aja swam to Brianna, leaning on the edge with her arms. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

Brianna sighed, she really wanted to talk about it. She felt bad that it wasn’t with Blair or Monét or The Vixen, but she trusted Aja, as well. “I nearly drowning this summer. I didn’t really mind, at the moment, I guess. I mean, I didn’t fight it.” 

Aja didn’t say anything, which was surprising. Brianna took this as silent encouragement. “But I was saved. I woke up on the beach, but no one was there. They just… got me out of the water.” 

“Maybe you reached the sand before you would have… you know.” Aja said after Brianna stopped. 

“Maybe,” Brianna wasn’t convinced. “I don’t think so, though. You didn’t feel what I felt. I felt great, I felt lightheaded and a little numb, but it was the best.”

“Sounds like you need a therapist.” Aja said, pushing herself away from the edge. “I think you just need to let it go, you know? Holding on to something you’ll never know will only make you sad and confused. You don’t have time for that.” 

“I guess you’re right,” Brianna sighed. “Anyway, I’m hungry, you can stay, but I want to eat.” 

“I’m going to stay for a while, I asked Sasha and Alexis to come.” 

“You were going to make me third wheel?” Brianna teased, getting out of the water and just putting her clothes back on, since she didn’t have a towel. “Thanks girl.” 

“You’re leaving, aren’t you?” 

“Touché.” 

Brianna left, feeling slightly embarrassed with her slowly wetting clothes. She had to walk quite a lot to get to her dorm, she just hoped that there wouldn’t be too many students, but of course a period just had to be over. But no one really seemed to look weirdly at her. 

When Brianna crossed the grounds, she saw Aquaria, and wanted to just… disappear. Quickening her pace, she was stopped by the voice that could only belong to the annoy blonde girl that was in every high school movie. 

“So, you really can’t talk?” It wasn’t even really a guess, Brianna knew she was talking to Aquaria. Brianna turned around, frowning and forgetting about her wet clothes. Aquaria looked like a girl who was pushing in a corner by a dinosaur. “I mean, that’s weird.” 

Obviously Aquaria didn’t answer. “What are you even doing here, then? You can’t do everything we can.” 

Brianna moved closer to the girl, who actually had blue hair, and Aquaria. “That’s a bit rude, don’t you think?” 

“Who are you?” 

“I would ask you the same but I don’t care. Can you leave her alone?” Brianna rolled her eyes, moving next to Aquaria. 

“Why do you care? We’re just friends.” Brianna glanced at Aquaria, who rolled her eyes and shook her head. 

“Looks like you got your answer,” Brianna said. “Now, Aquaria, do you want to drink a smoothie with me?” Brianna hoped it wasn’t a creepy request and Aquaria would understand that it was to get her out of the conversation. 

Aquaria, luckily, nodded. So, Brianna walked away, making sure Aquaria was following her and the girl stayed behind. “Wow, sorry about that, Aquaria.” 

Aquaria only smiled, mouthing something that Brianna assumed was a thank you. “You know, I only said that to get you out of the conversation, but I would love it if you actually wanted to grab a drink or something, because Vanessa kinda ruined it earlier.” 

Aquaria seemed to be laughing, even though Brianna wasn’t sure. She took her notebook out and scribbled something down. 

I have a class now, but tonight? You can text me. 

In nice handwriting there was a number under the words, and Brianna took the piece of paper. “I would love that! I’ll text you.”


	3. Chapter three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm back! This may be a cuter chapter, but don't be fooled!!! Anyways, I hope you enjoy! You can come and talk to me on Tumblr if you want, it's just @tropicaldepressionkatya  
> Enjoy! <3

“I can’t believe you have a date!” Blair squealed, smiling brightly at her roommate who was picking out a dress. “She’s really beautiful, you’re so lucky!” 

“Do I have to tell Vanessa about your little crush?” Brianna teased, deciding to wear her pink dress. Everyone said she looked cute in it, after all. 

“You’re not going to wear that dress, are you?” Blair jumped up, ignoring what Brianna had said before. 

“Why not?” 

“You literally wear that to every party. You’re going out for a smoothie, right?” Brianna nodded, and Blair pushed her away, digging through her closet. Brianna liked Blair a lot. She was a good friend, and an even better roommate. And suddenly, she felt guilty for not telling her, but Aja, about the thing that had been eating her up. 

Blair was like a ray of sunshine, someone so pure, nice and innocent, that needed to be protected. At least, that’s what Brianna tried to do. She had been hesitant about Vanessa, who had the reputation to be a party girl who wasn’t afraid to sleep with people she didn’t really know. But, Vanessa had proved that she actually loved Blair, even though she could still be an asshole to Brianna. 

“What about this?” Brianna was already shaking her head. “Why not?” 

“I never wear skirts! I’m not wearing that slutty skirt!” Blair pouted, placing the skirt on Brianna’s bed. 

“It’s a nice skirt! It’s casual but flirty. I have a pink shirt that would look cute with it!” Blair nearly sprinted to her own closet. Brianna knew that saying no wouldn’t work right now, so she sat down on her bed, looking at the jean skirt that wasn’t that ugly, just a little short. 

Blair returned with a beautiful shirt, pushing it in Brianna’s hands. “You really should go and change, your date will start soon!” 

“It’s not a date, Blair,” Brianna laughed, kicking her dress off and stepping in the skirt and pulling the shirt over her head. “I just… Want to get to know her.”

“Oh, Bri,” Blair grinned. “Whatever you say, honey.” Brianna rolled her eyes, fixing her hair in the mirror. 

“Don’t get into too much trouble while I’m gone, okay?” 

“Aja, Trixie and Vanessa are coming over, so I’m not making promises.” Blair smiled, fixing Brianna’s shirt a little. 

“Oh, my God, you’re going to die,” Brianna said, flicking her hair back now that she thought she looked okay. “At least invite Sasha?” 

“We did! She couldn’t make it. But don’t worry, The Vixen isn’t here yet so it’ll be a soft party unless Adore finds out.” 

“Don’t talk about your friend like that,” Brianna poked Blair’s ribs, earning her an adorable laugh. “Anyway, I’ll be back in like, two hours, if our dorm is on fire, blame Aja, they’ll believe it.” Blair chuckled, shaking her head. 

“You’re a terrible person.” 

“Sorry.” Brianna put on her favorite pair of heels, moving to the door. “See you later!” 

She walked to the smoothie place, where Aquaria had said she would be at eight. It was a little before eight, and Brianna hoped Aquaria wouldn’t bail on her. There was something about the girl that she couldn’t just place yet. 

Aquaria was already sitting at a booth when Brianna walked in. She almost didn’t recognize the young woman because she was wearing her hair in a half-updo, which looked really good on her. The theme of blue sweaters was also broken by a tighter yellow sweater that looked amazing on her. Brianna wondered if she was thinking too much of it. Aquaria probably thought of it as a friendly date or something, and there Brianna was, thinking about how beautiful Aquaria looked. 

“Hey,” She was surprised by the sound of her voice. She sounded completely comfortable, not that nervous at all. Aquaria broke into a smile, waving at the older girl. “How are you? How was class?” 

_I’m good, class was fine. How are you, Brianna?_

“I’m good,” Brianna cleared her throat, looking away. Aquaria had the most beautiful blue eyes, and Brianna was scared of losing her words. “What are you majoring in, actually? I don’t think I asked.” 

_Gender studies. Aquaria glanced up at Brianna, who was smiling when she read it. It’s really nice, what about you?_

“English,” Brianna pushed the notebook back to Aquaria. “Do you want to order anything? I’ll pay.” 

_Surprise me._

Brianna couldn’t help but smile at the words, and in a sudden burst of confidence, stupidity, and nerve, she nodded and _winked._

“I hope you’re ready.” Brianna walked to the counter, the courage and nerve were gone, and she thought that it was a stupid move. Aquaria was probably already freaked out now, which didn’t help Brianna’s nerves calm down.

Afraid of messing things up even more, Brianna just ordered two strawberry milkshakes, her favorite. When she brought them back, the blonde was pleasantly surprised to see that Aquaria was still sitting at the booth, not even texting about how terrible Brianna was. 

“These are my favorite,” Brianna placed the glasses down, smiling at the beautiful blonde in front of her. Aquaria gave her a look, which felt all too familiar. “Strawberry milkshake, I know I’m boring.” 

_You’re not boring, Aquaria wrote, looking at the other girl briefly before continuing. But if you think so, you should get something else next time you’re here._

Brianna smiled, slipping the straw between her lips. “You’re right, I totally should.” 

Aquaria smiled as well, and Brianna couldn’t help but feel soft on the inside. Aquaria took the tiniest sip Brianna had ever seen someone take before she grinned again, writing something down again. She might be unable to speak, but she sure was talkative. 

_It is very good, though. Brianna laughed, nodding._

“I know! It almost tastes like home.” 

_Ah, so you get this because you’re homesick?_

“I thought you were following gender studies, not psychology.” 

Then, Aquaria laughed. And even though she didn’t make more sound than a slightly louder breath, Brianna’s heart skipped a beat. Aquaria’s skin seemed to be glowing, her hair bouncing a little, and it wasn’t hard to imagine her as the main character in a Disney movie. She seemed like the kind of girl every poet wrote about. The kind of girl every book was dedicated to. She seemed untouchable, far away, yet so close. Kind of like the moon and the stars. 

Aquaria stopped laughing, raising her brows at the older girl. “Sorry, I never saw you laugh before.” The thing was, Brianna had. But it hadn’t been this beautiful, this perfect. 

_Do you like it?_ Aquaria smirked. 

“Obviously,” Brianna didn’t even have to think about her answer. “It’s almost magical.” 

The younger girl couldn’t help but blush, which filled Brianna with pride. Aquaria didn’t seem like the blushy kind of girl, so Brianna was proud of herself. 

_Stop it,_ Aquaria wrote, her eyes flashing back up at the young woman again. Brianna was terrified of the conversation ending because she was shamelessly flirting with Aquaria, even though she told herself she wasn’t flirting. But Aquaria pulled the notebook back and wrote something down again. _You have the nicest smile, by the way._

Oh. That was something Brianna hadn’t expected. She never really liked her smile. She never really thought that someone would think it was cute or nice or sweet, possibly even pretty. So now, Brianna didn’t know how to answer to that. And thus, she told herself to ‘grow a fucking pair’ and response to Aquaria. 

“I never thought of it like that,” With that, Aquaria frowned, and Brianna felt like they touched too sensitive subjects. “Anyway, when are you going back home? In a few weeks?” 

_I plan on going home every weekend, I know it’s a few hour drive, but I guess I get homesick easily._

Brianna had been in her house for maybe two hours, and her house didn’t seem like a place you’d miss. It was big, and from what Brianna guessed, it was only her and the lady. “I get that. Especially since it’s your first year.” 

_I miss the ocean. I love swimming a lot._

Brianna couldn’t help but laugh, swimming in September seemed like a stupid idea, after all. “Are you kidding me? The water will be freezing! You might catch a cold.” 

_I never catch a cold because I swim no matter what weather it is._ Aquaria grinned. _But maybe I won’t go home this weekend. It’s full moon, did you know?_

“I didn’t,” Brianna took a sip from her milkshake. “How did you know, though? Are you into horoscopes or something?” 

_Not really,_ Aquaria seemed to chuckle. _But I do love the moon and stuff like that._

“Well,” Brianna wondered if she should ask, since they didn’t really know each other, after all. “If you’re not going home, you should definitely come to the bar a few blocks away. Every Friday it’s full of students. I only go once a month. It’s fun!” 

_I do love a party. Can I come with you and your friends?_

Well, that went even better than she had hoped. “Of course! We usually come for a smoothie first, so we can just meet here. I’ll text you everything you need to know.” 

_You’re really nice to me,_ Aquaria wrote, before turning the page, since the first one was already full. _Why?_

Brianna didn’t know why. There just was something. As if she was the moon, and Brianna was the sea, bound to follow her. “You’re a nice person. Also beautiful, which helps. And I know how hard starting uni is.” 

Aquaria smiled, wrapping her lips around the straw again. Brianna had to tear her eyes away. While she drank, Aquaria wrote something down again. _I guess I won’t get rid of you, huh?_

“Would you want to?” Brianna teasingly raised her eyebrow, but Aquaria was quick to shake her head, and Brianna laughed. “I would hope not!” 

They both seemed perfectly happy in that moment, which was quite weird, since Brianna didn’t really know much about Aquaria. But she still liked her. She still thought that there was no way that she would be disappointed by who Aquaria was. 

But their little happy moment was interrupted by Brianna’s phone, which she hadn’t silenced because maybe Blair’s get-together would get out of hand. Of course, both their eyes shot to the phone, and Aquaria wrote something down with a smile. 

_A poppy field?_

“Aquaria,” Brianna couldn’t help but grin a little. “Were you looking? You know that’s rude.” 

_Maybe you should have silenced your phone._

Aquaria was smiling as well. “Well, if you really want to know it is because I have no creativity and happen to love the wizard of Oz.” 

_Doesn’t your English class have creative writing? Can’t imagine you not being creative._

Brianna couldn’t help but wonder if this was her being nice, or actually flirting. She decided to go with being nice, because she didn’t want to believe someone as pretty as Aquaria would actually flirt with her. “Maybe I’m just emotionally exhausted,” Brianna took another long sip from her milkshake, realizing her own was almost empty. Aquaria’s already was. “You know, we don’t have to stay here. There’s a fair a block away, if you want to we can go.” 

Aquaria smiled, nodding as if she was told she was going to get a puppy. Brianna couldn’t help but blush at the eager of the other girl. “Okay, okay,” She drank the last of her milkshake, leaving the empty glass. “Let’s go.” 

Brianna was surprised to see that Aquaria’s tighter sweater had actually been a crop top sweater. She never understood why you would wear something like that, but it looked good on Aquaria. She was wearing it with a jean skirt, much like her own. Brianna could see a strip of skin, and she tried not to look at that when they were walking together. The sun was already setting, which was Brianna’s favorite time of the day. The world didn’t seem as connected, as if she could do anything she wanted, and just wake up later or be excused. 

Brianna had walked these roads many, many times before, but it felt as if she never had before when she saw Aquaria’s amazed face. It would be easy to believe that the younger girl had never been outside, judging by the look on her face. Of course, that would be a silly thing to believe, but it certainly wouldn’t be hard. 

Brianna wanted to talk to Aquaria, she wanted to have a flowy conversation and just hear her laugh. But she knew that wasn’t possible. She would be lying if she said she didn’t mind, because Brianna loved to call people late at night, have cheesy conversations. But as soon as she thought of that, she mentally shook her head. She wasn’t even sure if they were friends, and that was definitely a girlfriend thing.

The fair was quite beautiful, especially with the sun setting, and the kids laughing. Brianna looked up at Aquaria, who was a few inches taller than her, smiling at her amazed expression. “You know, we should definitely go for a ride of the Ferris wheel, you can even see the sea.” 

Aquaria looked like she would have jumped up and down in excitement, which Brianna thought was adorable, even though she needed to stop thinking about this as a date. And of Aquaria as cute.

There were a lot of people, mostly parents with children and a few teens. Brianna knew that real fun would start in a few hours, when the people from college and uni started to come. However, she wasn’t planning on staying that long, because she did, in fact, care about her education. 

Brianna told Aquaria to wait, her smile seemed made of rhinestones, just prettier. Brianna was convinced Aquaria was a witch, since she had never fallen for someone this fast. Not that she had fallen, of course.

She bought two tickets before she made her way back to Aquaria, who was still looking amazed by everything. “Have you ever been in one?” Aquaria shook her head, looking up at the tall thing as they stood in the short line. 

“It’s really great, you can see everything, you’re so high, you are basically flying.” They could already get in a booth, so of course Brianna let Aquaria get in first. Brianna was actually starting to worry about how mesmerized she was by the girl. It wasn’t much like her to get crazy over a girl this easy. Especially when they hadn’t even really talked. 

The booth was closed, and before they even began moving, Aquaria was already pressed against the glass. “You never went to a fair before?” Aquaria shook her head, reaching for her notebook, pressing the book against the glass and started writing. Brianna moved closer, but the thing started moving. Aquaria dropped the notebook and her pen, her nose pressed against the window again. It was the cutest thing Brianna had ever seen. 

She picked up the notebook, reading the unfinished message. 

_I never went out much. I wasn’t allowed to, so I went to the beach a lot-_

Brianna looked back at the girl with the fluffy hair, whose mouth was very much open as she looked at the city, which was slowly getting bigger. Brianna joined her, looking with Aquaria over the city. “Do you like it?” 

Aquaria nodded, her eyes not leaving the window. Brianna could only guess she had never been this high. Then, the Ferris wheel stopped. Aquaria seemed a bit shocked, and for a moment it really did seem as if Aquaria came from another planet. 

“You don’t know how this works?” Brianna laughed at the slight panic that crossed the other girl her eyes. “It stops to let people out and in, we’ll be off in a few seconds.” 

Aquaria seemed to relax, looking back through the glass. She pointed to a little boy with pink cotton candy, her eyebrows frowned. “That’s cotton candy? Have you been living under a rock?” 

Aquaria laughed soundlessly, but it was hard to imagine it being anything except beautiful. She shook her head no, and then the Ferris wheel moved again. “We can get one before we go home, your hands will be sticky.” Brianna chuckled, and Aquaria nodded, but she was too amazed by going even higher to fully acknowledge the older girl. 

Aquaria was stunning, and Brianna felt the need to just move closer to her. She could smell her hair. It smelled like the ocean scented shampoo Brianna didn’t want to touch back at her home, but now it was very tempting. The scent was only light, and covered by the sweet smell of expensive perfume Brianna couldn’t quite place. 

Apparently, she was standing a little too close, since Aquaria turned back to her, butting their heads in the progress. “Oh, fuck!” Brianna held her forehead, stumbling back a little. Aquaria had a hard head, that was for sure. Aquaria’s hand went straight to her mouth, a little blush forming on her cheeks. 

She mouthed something that probably was an apology. Brianna wondered if she would get better at reading that. It shouldn’t be too hard, since she could stare at her lips all day long. 

“It’s okay, I may have creeped up on you.” Brianna pulled her hand away, smiling, before she burst out laughing. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to laugh at you, but it’s all very silly.” Aquaria frowned, but apparently wanted to laugh as well, since she smiled, even though she was still blushing. And just like that, their booth was opened and they walked out. 

“So,” Brianna broke the silence Aquaria couldn’t break, handing her the notebook back. “Do you want to try cotton candy or not?” Aquaria nodded eagerly, spotting a cart that said ‘cotton candy’. It was getting busier, so, Brianna assumed it was not to lose her, Aquaria grabbed Brianna’s hand, dragging her along to the cart. 

Aquaria pointed at the cotton candy, holding up two fingers. Brianna would have ordered, but she was still focussed on Aquaria’s hand. Her hand was so soft, and surprisingly large. Aquaria paid for the candy, handing Brianna one and letting go of her hand. Brianna, who seemed to have found her voice again, thanked the other girl. 

“I promised Blair I would be back in two hours, I don’t think if she’ll be alive if I get back any later.” 

Aquaria smiled, nodding and linking their arms. She took a bite of the cotton candy, but just biting in it, which obviously didn’t go very well. The cotton candy got all over her face, some even got in her hair. She pouted, but Brianna laughed. “I can’t believe you,” She freed their arms to get a piece out of her hair as Aquaria wiped the cotton candy on her nose off. “You need to rip it off, dummy.” 

Aquaria huffed out a breath, rolling her eyes but still linking their arms back together. They didn’t talk much on their way back. Well, Brianna didn’t. She did ask how Aquaria liked the cotton candy, who just gave her a big grin and a thumbs up. 

At the campus, their ways parted. Brianna did want to be nice and walk her back, but she was worried about Blair, and knew that Aquaria’s dorm was on the other end of the building. So, any chance of a romantic ending vanished. Not that it was a date, of course. 

It was easier to think clearly now that Aquaria wasn’t around anymore. She could think normally again, which felt like jumping into a cold lake, as if she wanted Aquaria’s warmth back. Or maybe Brianna was just problematic. 

Brianna carefully opened the door, and the dorm was surprisingly silent. But of course it was the silence before the storm. She knew that the party might have been a little much when she found Adore without a shirt laying on the table, the smell of weed surrounding her. She grinned brightly at Brianna. "Brianna! How were the fish sticks?” Brianna frowned. 

“Great.” 

“Nice to hear,” Adore looked back up at the ceiling. “Do you think the lamp dies when we switch it off? Switch is a weird word, you know.” 

Brianna knew that Adore had smoked too much weed, and she was happy to find the windows open. “Adore, where are the others?” 

“I don’t know, I guess they flew away,” Probably drunk as well. “I did see Aja, she didn’t have any feet.” 

Brianna moved further into the dorm she called home, seeing that Aja was laying on top of Trixie, who seemed mostly sober and was petting Aja’s hair. She was still wearing the roller skates. “You’re back,” Trixie smiled. “Don’t worry, she didn’t smoke weed, wasn’t even that drunk. Blair and Vanessa are in the bedroom. I think they stopped having sex ten minutes ago.” Trixie grinned. “How was your date?” 

“God, it wasn’t a date,” Brianna rolled her eyes, surprised by the fact that the dorm was almost completely clean. “Are you staying over?” 

“Yeah, could you bring me a blanket?” 

“No,” Brianna said, moving to her bedroom, kicking her heels off. 

“Fucking bitch,” Trixie whisper yelled, and Brianna smiled. She grabbed a throw-on blanket from her closet and threw it to the duo on the couch. 

“Just for once.” She knew very well that wasn’t true. 

Blair and Vanessa were cuddled together in bed, but Blair was still awake. “Did you have fun?” 

Brianna nodded. “We’ll talk about this in the morning, okay?” 

“Okay,” Blair smiled, yawning. “We didn’t set anything on fire. Laganja did stop by, so of course Adore got high.” 

“You too?” 

“No,” She closed her eyes. “I did drink some.” She giggled softly. 

“I can see that,” Brianna smiled. “I’ll be quiet, goodnight.” She moved to the bathroom, thanking every God she knew about letting them all be mostly alive, even though the morning would be much worse. But that wasn’t a problem for now. Now, all Brianna could do was smile. Smile because Aquaria existed and decided to spend a few hours with her. Brianna felt blessed.


	4. Chapter four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back again! As always, I hope you enjoy and tell me what you think! If you want to, you can come talk to me on Tumblr, or just follow me for sneak peaks and headcanons! It's @tropicaldepressionkatya  
> I hope you enjoy! Have a nice night/day!

The smell of nail polish had something that reminded Brianna about uni. And that one time in high school where she had a girlfriend who wanted to become a nail artist and she practiced on her. 

Trixie was painting her nails as Brianna was reading through one of the books she had to finish by Monday. “I still hate you,” Brianna said, pushing her glasses up and not looking at the other girl. “Un-fucking-believable you did that.” 

Trixie chuckled, dipping the brush back in the bottle, wiping off the extra before brushing it against Brianna’s nails again. “No you don’t, you’re glad you know now.” 

Brianna flicked the page, glancing up at Trixie, who was already dressed. Her makeup was perfect and her hair looked beautiful. Meanwhile, Brianna was in nothing but shorts, her bra and glasses. Her hair was still in a bun from when she tried to finished her homework. 

It wasn’t like Brianna to leave everything until the very last few days, but circumstances and the fact that it didn’t feel like school had really started, caused her to procrastinate everything. She would have cancelled going out, but she hadn’t even thought about it since Aquaria was coming with them. “Did you have to ask it in my name, though?” 

“Well, no, but I never talked to her, so it would be weird if I just asked ‘hey, are you gay?’ Besides, now you can make your move on her.” 

“I’m not going to do that,” Brianna sighed, looking back at her book. A knock on the door made her head shoot up again. She wondered who it would be. “I’ll go.” 

Trixie stopped her for a short second, finishing the last nail before letting her go with a grin. Brianna didn’t know who to expect. Blair was at Vanessa’s dorm, and Aja wasn’t supposed to stop by. 

But the last person Brianna expected was to see an all dolled up Aquaria. She was wearing the shortest, shiniest dress. Her hair was straight and even longer than normal. Briana thought Aquaria was always beautiful. She had that rare natural beauty thing going on, but now, with bright eyeshadow and a few stones on her face, she looked stunning. 

Apparently, Brianna didn’t say anything for a rather long time, so Aquaria waved at the moment Trixie called what was going on. Brianna was very much aware of the fact that she was as good as naked. 

“Aquaria,” She eventually forced out. “Didn’t expect you here, come in.” 

“Oh, your little girlfriend is here,” Trixie grinned from the table, and Brianna rolled her eyes, pushing her glasses up her head. 

“Do you want anything to drink? I thought we’d meet up at the smoothie place?” 

Aquaria smiled, moving to the table to write something down. 

_Blair texted me that I could come here, too._

Oh my god. Note to self, kill Blair. Brianna thought, but she smiled. “Well, I’m not quite ready yet, so do you think you and Trixie will be fine?” 

Aquaria nodded, and Trixie raised her eyebrows with a grin, and Brianna mouthed _don’t_ to her friend before she went to the bathroom. 

Brianna never felt like she needed to look extraordinary stunning to go to a dark club, but now that Aquaria joined them, she would have to step her game up. 

She finished her eyebrows and wanted to go to her eyeshadow when someone knocked at the door. It had to be Aquaria, since there would be no way Trixie would knock. 

“Come in.” Aquaria shyly opened the door, but smiled when she saw Brianna. She held up her notebook, that already had words on them. 

_You look good._

“You wrote that before you even saw me,” Brianna laughed. “Liar.” 

_I mean it._ The younger girl wrote down. _But I came to ask you if it was okay if a friend of mine joined._

“Of course, this isn’t a members-only club,” Brianna went back to her eyeshadow, feeling a little bit down. Because she thought that she was going to be the one person Aquaria actually had bonded with. But as soon as she thought that, she cursed at herself. “Is Trixie treating you all right?” 

_She’s telling stories of drunk people I don’t know. She also talks a lot about Katya._

“Her best friend and girlfriend,” Brianna smiled, trying to give her eyeliner the perfect wing. It was a little uneven, but it would have to do. “You haven’t met Aja yet, she’s the one most stories are about.” 

Aquaria chuckled, finally walking into the bathroom, leaning against the sink as she smiled at Brianna. 

_You should wear a little bit highlighter tonight._

Brianna raised her eyebrow, laughing. “Are you telling me I don’t look good enough?” 

Aquaria rolled her eyes, grabbing a brush and reaching for a pan of highlighter, smiling as she turned Brianna’s face with a light touch. Brianna could feel her face burning as her eyes searched Aquaria’s. She wasn’t looking the smaller blonde in the eye, instead focusing on her cheekbone, and Brianna was glad. Aquaria’s eyes reminded her of the sea. Clear blue, but when you looked closer, it had a sheer green shine. They were beautiful. 

Aquaria turned Brianna’s head a little more, digging into the highlighter once again. “Do you want to break my neck?” 

Aquaria smiled softly, shaking her head as she let go of Brianna’s face, letting her look at the result. It wasn’t very shocking, of course. She had used highlighter before. She thought it didn’t look amazing on her, so she usually used shimmery blush or something. 

“Thank you,” Brianna smiled, because she liked Aquaria a lot, and wanted her to feel like her little change helped her a lot. “Only the hair and lips, now.” Aquaria didn’t make any motion to leave, and Brianna didn’t mind. 

She traced her lips, overdrawing them a little, like she always did, before filling them in with a bright red that matched Trixie’s as if they were the same. She didn’t want to curl or straighten her hair, thinking that was what most girls did, so she worked it into a quick but complicated up-do, missing Blair, who was so much better at it than her. 

However, Aquaria was holding up her notebook again. _You should do my hair sometime, it looks really pretty._

Brianna, who always felt like dying when Aquaria said anything nice about her, blushed a little, not enough for Aquaria to notice, she hoped. Aquaria was a witch, that's one thing Brianna was sure of. She did things to Brianna that she hadn’t even felt when she was an insecure teenager. 

Brianna had to stop feeling like that when she was around Aquaria, it wasn't like her at all. She was hilarious, she knew that, but she couldn’t form sentences around Aquaria. Luckily, she didn’t have to at that moment. 

Trixie laughed, and Aquaria’s eyes widened, turning around and glancing to the table, surprised to see Trixie being fine. 

“That’s her laugh, don’t ask.” Brianna smiled, adding the last finishing touches and slipping her shoes on. Aquaria laughed at that, walking back into the kitchen. The smaller blonde followed her after using her strongest perfume, knowing she would smell like alcohol in a matter of seconds if she didn’t. 

Aja had arrived, she was sitting on the couch, several bottles of alcohol spread out on the table. “You can’t go to the club sober,” She grinned, opening a bottle and drinking straight from it. 

“Is there anyone who is a decent person and wants a glass?” Brianna had given up on Aja a few weeks after she met her. 

“You’re a bitch.” Aja stopped drinking long enough to say that. Aquaria moves to the couch, reaching for a bottle and raising her eyebrows to ask Aja for permission. “You’re Aquaria, right? I’ve heard a lot about you. Go ahead, sis, I brought enough to get wasted before we leave.” 

Aquaria opened the bottle, and Brianna reached for a glass, but, surprisingly, Aquaria drank from the bottle. “See? Brianna, you are the one who needs to level their pussy up.” 

Trixie joined them on the couch, and opened a bottle as well. “Yeah, you’re no fun.” 

“You’re just sad because Katya isn’t around anymore.” Brianna said, annoyed. She joined the group, not opening a bottle for herself. However, Trixie handed her the bottle as soon as she sat down. Brianna took a long sip, handing it back. 

“The party started, bitch!” Vanessa marched in, Blair shortly behind her. “You already started drinking? I’m disappointed, I thought Blair raised y’all better.” 

“There’s still more than enough, don’t worry.” Blair said, pulling two chairs from the table and placing them next to the couch. 

“So, everyone is here?” Trixie asked, handing Vanessa and Blair a bottle. 

“Aquaria’s friend isn’t here. Is she coming here?” Aquaria shook her head, and Brianna guessed that she would meet them at the club. 

“Shangela is coming as well,” Blair said. "Maybe she’s bringing Violet with her.” 

“Shangela?” Aja asked. “Why? And why isn’t Alyssa with her?” 

“I don’t know,” Blair shrugged. “She asked if we were going and if she could come. I guess she grew tired of Laganja and Alyssa. Can’t blame her. She’s lucky Gia dropped out.” 

Brianna decided to turn her attention to Aquaria while the others drank and talked about Shangela. “Are you excited? Do you go out a lot?” 

Aquaria took the notebook again, it was purple, but Brianna guessed she had a lot of notebooks. 

_I’m very excited! I don’t go out much, but sometimes I do._

“Well, don’t expect too much of the club. They do have killer rum, if you like that.” Brianna smiled, and Aquaria handed her the bottle of alcohol as she scribbled something down again. Brianna took a sip. 

_Not to sound like an alcoholic, but any alcohol is good to me._

“I like how you said ‘not to sound like an alcoholic’, because you do,”Brianna took another sip before handing the bottle back. “But it’s okay.” Aquaria playfully rolled her eyes, and the smile Brianna got, made her heart flutter. 

“Look at them, flirting.” Brianna’s head shot towards Trixie, who wasn’t on her good page right now. 

“Look at you, unable to stop talking.” 

Vanessa laughed, thinking it all was a little too funny. “You’re all crazy.” 

“You think they’re crazy? I walked in the room moments ago, darling!” Shangela grinned, walking towards the kitchen and hopping on the table. “Oh, booze.” She hopped back off, shuffling closer and picking up a pink bottle. 

“No Violet?” 

“Am I not good enough?” 

Aja laughed. “Since I asked, obviously not.” 

Shangela dramatically sighed, and Brianna wished that her friends, who she actually loved a lot and thought were amazing, would shut up for once. 

But Aquaria was looking at them amused. “There’ll be a lot of good things happening now that I am here!” Shangela continued. 

“Like?” Trixie dared her. 

“You’ll get drunk faster,” Shangela said, which was true. “And you’ll get to see all this beauty.” She made a small turn. 

“Okay, so good and bad things.” Brianna dryly said, and Shangela burst out laughing. 

“Asshole!" She said, lunging towards Brianna, who laughed, jumping up to dodge the girl. 

“Guys, we should get going!” Blair announced. “Before you’re all too drunk to walk to the bar.” 

So, the large and obnoxious group left, laughing and yelling through the corridors and soon through the streets. Brianna, who wasn’t a very loud person, joined Aquaria, who was grinning as she looked at the group. Aja had jumped on Vanessa’s back, who would have fallen over if Blair and Shangela hadn’t been there, too. 

“They’re quite the group,” Brianna smiled at her friends. “Do you approve?” Aquaria smiled and nodded, and what could have been a nice conversation, died down. It wasn’t Aquaria’s fault, though. She could imagine that writing down everything would be tiring. Besides, Aquaria hadn’t brought her notebook. It would have looked weird in the club, anyway. 

Luckily Trixie joined them, pushing her almost empty bottle in Brianna’s hands. “Because you’re so amazing.” And then, she was gone. Brianna rolled her eyes, walking over to a trash bin and throwing it in. Aquaria grinned, and Brianna smiled back at the beautiful girl. 

They were close to their destination, and Brianna couldn’t help but wonder if Aquaria’s friend was going to be pretty. Or into Aquaria. She hoped not. That would feel weird, especially since Brianna began to accept the fact that she might be into Aquaria. How could she not, after all. 

Aquaria, who had been walking elegantly next to her on her thin heels, suddenly sprinted off, a bright grin on her face as she moved away. 

“Oh, girl, she’s in a hurry,” Shangela said. “I’m lucky I held my purse, bitch.” Brianna already felt lonely, even though her friends were surrounding her. She saw Aquaria fall into the arms or a girl. She had reddish hair, and was taller than Aquaria. Brianna couldn’t help but feel disappointed when she saw that the girl was pretty. Very pretty. 

Brianna was still at the end of the group, already feeling jealous of the redhead she didn’t even know. Trixie, who always seemed to notice when her mood changed, slowed down, and walked next to her. “Turn that frown upside down, please.” 

“I swear,” Brianna breathed out. “Aquaria is a witch. Why do I have to feel like this?” 

Trixie laughed. "It’s normal, you’ll get over it. But if I can tell you one thing,” Brianna wasn’t sure if she trusted Trixie’s advice. Especially now that she was tipsy. “Make your ‘move’ or whatever before you’re in the friendzone. That’s a pain to get out of.” 

Maybe it was good advice, but Brianna knew she wasn’t that confident around Aquaria. She wouldn’t simply walk up to her, tell her how she felt and kiss her. Aquaria was different, as cringy as that sounded. She made Brianna insecure, and she hated it. 

“I’m Kameron,” The redhead smiled. She waved, and there was a certain awkward vibe hanging around her. It was a good thing the group was quite big, because Brianna wouldn’t want to talk to Kameron in a thousand years. At least not at that moment. “Nice to meet you!” 

Great, she was ‘nice’, even though that was relative. “Let’s go! Let’s party! Let’s get drunk!” 

The group went inside. The perks of being pretty early; there was no line at all. Brianna pulled Trixie and Aja straight to the bar, as Blair, Vanessa and Shangela went to the dance floor and Kameron was talking to Aquaria near the entrance, where the music wasn’t as loud. 

“Stop looking,” Trixie smacked Brianna’s face, not hard enough to hurt. She ordered a strong drink for her. “Go and kiss someone tonight or make your move on her, I don’t care, but this is sad.” Brianna rolled her eyes, taking a large sip from the drink. 

“You’re one to talk,” Brianna mumbled, turning to Aja, who was already flirting with someone who looked rather uncomfortable. She pulled Aja away, moving closer to her ear. “Let’s dance!” 

Aja wrapped her arm around Brianna’s waist, leading her through the room and pressing their bodies together, moving to the music. The club wasn’t Brianna’s favorite place to go, but at that moment, she needed it. It wasn’t like her to fall in love with someone that easily, and no matter how much she liked to dismiss her feelings, she knew she had it bad for Aquaria, who probably would never feel the same. 

The girl Brianna had stopped thinking about for only a minute, appeared next to the two girls, Kameron wasn’t with her. Brianna was feeling better now that Kameron was out of the picture for at least a moment, and couldn’t help but admire Aquaria. Her hair was beginning to curl a little around her face, she noticed the way her dress was moving up, but not too high. 

She didn’t know how it happened, but she and Aquaria moved closer, Aja long forgotten and soon to go dance with someone else. Aquaria pulled Brianna closer with a grin, and Brianna’s hands wrapped around her neck, pressing their bodies together. Brianna didn’t know who leaned closer first, but their heads were pressed together, lips so close Brianna could feel Aquaria’s breath on her lips. She could smell Aquaria’s perfume, light and floral, her lips were plump, slightly parted.

Then, Brianna leaned closer, and Aquaria pulled back slightly, her light breath tickling Brianna’s face, who pulled her back. They were both smiling. Aquaria leaned in the next time, the corners of their mouths brushing, and Brianna chuckled. Aquaria pulled Brianna closer, her eyes closed until Brianna moved a hand to her face. 

She didn’t know what had happened, but next thing she knew, Aquaria pulled away. She nearly jumped away, as if Brianna had told her she ate puppies before coming here. “Aquaria,” Brianna wasn’t sure what was going on, but Aquaria’s eyes filled with the bluest -tears(?)- she had ever seen. They were even bluer than her eyes, but it could just be the lighting. “Please.” 

But it had no use. The girl ran away, pushing through the group of people with more force than Brianna had thought the skinny girl was capable of. Brianna ran a hand through her hair. She fucked up. She really fucked up. It became hard to breathe; Aquaria was gone, and she wasn’t coming back. What would she do if Aquaria never came back to her? If she never wanted to speak to her again? That thought took her breath away. 

“Bri? Oh, my god, what’s going on?” Brianna didn’t really cry often, but now, there were tears in her eyes. She couldn’t breathe. She was terrified of having to miss Aquaria. “Let’s go outside.” 

She had never quite seen Blair handle people the way she did. She pushed everyone aside, snapping at a boy and leading Brianna outside. The air made her feel better. 

“I’m sorry,” Brianna breathed out. “I kinda panicked.” 

“It’s okay,” Blair smiled, leaning against the wall, her arms wrapped around her own body, a shiver running down her spine. “What happened? Do you want to talk about it?” 

She didn’t. Not really, but she knew that after what happened she kinda had to. Blair was a good friend who had been through a lot. “We almost kissed. But she ran away.” 

“Oh, Bri,” Blair whispered. 

“No, don’t feel bad. It’s fine, really.” Blair cocked her head to the side, frowning. “I just… want to go home now.” 

“Well, let’s go, then,” Blair whispered. “We can watch a movie. Aja left a few bottles in our dorm. It’ll be a fun night.” 

“Yeah,” It was hard to imagine that, but she smiled. “Sure, sounds great.” 

-

The sun was warming up the dorm, and Blair bought a bouquet to brighten the place up, the smell was slowly spreading through the small place. It was going to be a good day. Brianna refused to believe otherwise after spending two days completely freaking out over what happened in the club. 

But today was going to be different. She made herself and Blair eggs, and was already excited for later that day, when Vixen was going to arrive on campus. Brianna hadn’t seen Aquaria since the incident, and she was fine with that. She missed seeing her beautiful smile, but sometimes things hurt for the right reason. It was hard to believe this was one of them, but Brianna felt optimistic. 

“You’re awfully happy today,” Blair smiled, putting the last plate they had cleaned back away. “Feeling better?” 

“Yeah,” Brianna watched as the water ran through the sink, soap would be left, which always was a pain to wash away completely. “Today is going to be a good day. Vixen will arrive in a few hours. I missed her.” 

Blair was all too happy that her friend seemed to be in a good mood and decided to believe whatever Brianna said. “I’m happy she’s coming back. I don’t know what we’d do without her.” 

Brianna laughed a little at that, agreeing anyway. “Without her, we would be lost.” 

Blair turned to the table, wiping the grease off that somehow managed to get there as Brianna tried to wash the soap away. “Anyway, I’m going to shower, okay?” Brianna was happy enough with the amount of soap she had cleared and smiled at Blair, who nodded and moved to the bathroom. 

She was feeling good, and decided to go for the tropical fruits shower treatment she had never used before. As she got in the shower, she let the warm water wash over her. It was quite hard to be sad in a warm shower, and since she wasn’t sad anymore, she felt even better. It was almost magical, and Brianna hoped she could cling onto this moment forever. 

As she rinsed her body, she couldn’t help but remember her night at the beach. She hadn’t been able to forget it, but it was easy to not focus on it. However, Brianna had always been a curious soul. She wanted to know what happened. If her lover ever vanished, she would be the person dying trying to figure out what happened to them. And not only because she loved them. She hated not knowing. That, combined with the fact that what happened to her was very strange to say at least. 

It definitely wasn’t the best idea, but Brianna believed she should go back to the beach. She wasn’t sure what she would do, but she knew that someone brought her to land, saved her. Maybe she could see them. It was a long shot, but doing nothing would be way worse. 

So when she got out of the shower, her mind was made up: next weekend she would drive to the beach. 

Drying her hair as good and fast as possible with her towel, she slipped into a light dress, walking back into the living area where Blair was sitting with Adore. 

“Did I miss something?” Blair smiled, patting the spot next to her. 

“Adore’s roommate is out, she’s just here for a while.” Brianna didn’t mind, but she was amazed by how often people came over to their dorm. She blamed Blair, though. Blair always let everyone in and was a nice person. That was probably why everyone always came to their dorm. 

However, for once, they spend an hour in silence, and Brianna got up to brush her hair and do her makeup. When she got back, Adore was leaving. So only Blair and herself remained for their meeting with Vixen. Brianna was more than excited, nearly jumping about seeing one of her best friends. She hadn’t seen Blair or Vixen during summer break, since she spent most of it with Monét, who moved to Chicago last year. It was fine, though, since they would be spending the rest of the year together anyway. 

They had decided to meet up at the smoothie bar, but when they were about to enter, Blair spotted Vixen, running towards her with an excited squeal as she hugged the woman and laughed when Vixen caught Blair with open arms. Brianna, who didn’t like running into her friends’ arms all too much, moved a little slower, but gave Vixen a hug as well. 

Vixen was still laughing, wrapping her arms around Brianna’s neck. “Hey,” 

Brianna grinned, resting her head on Vixen’s shoulder as Vixen hugged her just a bit tighter. “Choke me, daddy.” 

Vixen pushed Brianna away. “Don’t ever speak to me with that mouth again!” Vixen said, making noises that came close to vomiting. 

Brianna laughed at Vixen’s reaction, and Blair, who hadn’t heard anything Brianna had said but looped her arm through Vixen’s. “How was your summer?” Blair smiled, beaming at her friend, who she had missed so much. 

“Don’t pretend like we haven’t talked all summer,” Vixen smiled, as they looked for a booth. The smoothie place was rather full, which wasn’t too weird for the time of the day. “But what did I miss?”

“Oh, well, I think you’d have to ask Bri.” Blair carefully said, not sure if it was her place to even mention it. 

Vixen raised a brow at the blonde, who was studying the menu. “It’s nothing, really, there’s just a girl who I like but she isn’t really into me, I guess.” 

“What? Who?” 

Brianna smiled, placing the menu down. “It’s okay, it’s all good-” But of course, as she was saying that she was perfectly fine, that it was just a silly thing, Aquaria walked in. “Goddamnit.” 

Vixen and Blair both turned around. “Is that her? She’s pretty.” 

“Her name’s Aquaria, she can’t talk.” Blair added, even though it wasn’t really helpful. Brianna wanted to die. She really did. She might have been feeling fine, but now that she saw the beautiful person that hurt her, it all came back to her. And even though she was doing better, seeing her would simply be too awkward. 

“Wow,” Vixen said, turning back to Brianna.

“Oh, my God,” Blair said. “She’s coming.” Brianna dared to glance up, cursing everything when she saw that was true. 

Aquaria took out her phone when she was standing at the table, taking her phone out and tapping Brianna’s shoulder when she didn’t give her any attention. Vixen gave Brianna a look that made it clear that she wasn’t scared to tell the blonde girl to fuck off, but Brianna shook her head and took out her phone. 

_Can we talk, please?_

Brianna looked up at the blonde, her hair was hanging over her shoulders and she was wearing shorts and a sports bra. She looked like she just went for a run. “Yeah,” She didn’t want to say yes, but it was hard to say no to the blonde when she batted her eyes like that. “Sure, let’s go outside, okay?” 

Aquaria nodded, and with slightly shaking hands, Brianna stood up and they went outside. Aquaria didn’t have a notebook with her, she probably hadn’t planned this. 

“Look,” Brianna began, but Aquaria held up her hand, quickly typing on her phone before showing it to Brianna. 

_Please stop, it’s not your fault. I just want to explain. I messed up, Brianna._

“No,” Brianna said. She didn’t really understand what Aquaria was trying to say. “I did. I guess we both had a little bit too much to drink, it doesn’t have to mean anything.” 

Aquaria bit her lip, typing again. _Really? Didn’t it mean anything?_

Brianna swallowed, avoiding Aquaria’s eye. “If you don’t want to, it doesn’t mean anything.” Brianna quietly said. Aquaria smiled, and Brianna’s heart was breaking. So she didn’t want it to mean anything. 

She cleared her throat when Aquaria didn’t start typing. “Look, Vixen arrived today, I really have to go back, but you can text me later, okay? Really, no big deal.” 

Aquaria nodded, and Brianna brushed past her. She could smell the ocean scented shampoo, and longed for the ocean herself. Preferably to drown in, but that didn’t really matter, as long as she was away from Aquaria for now. 

“And?” 

“It’s all set, we agreed it was a mistake, it was wrong. Whatever, I’m going to the bathroom, please order me a strawberry milkshake.” Even though she had promised herself and Aquaria she would get something else next time she came there, she really didn’t feel like it at the moment. It was all a little too much, a little too soon. 

So Brianna went to the bathroom, plopping down on the seat and running a hand over her face. Oh, god. She really fucked up now.


	5. Chapter five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I just want to thank everyone for leaving nice messages, it really motivates me! I hope you enjoy this chapter! <3  
> Come talk to me on tumblr! @tropicaldepressionkatya  
> trigger warning: nearly drowning (it isn't like specified a lot but still! be careful!)

The clock was taunting her, she knew it for sure. With every minute that passed, the day seemed to be five minutes longer. Brianna was in her last period, which happened to be creative writing with miss Del Rio. It was one of her favorite classes, but she couldn’t bring herself to pay attention to it. Miss Del Rio was in a bad mood because Adore had fallen asleep twice in thirty minutes, and Eva hadn’t finished her assignment, which always irked their teacher. Miss Del Rio was one of the strictest teachers they had, but she was also one of the best and fun-loving teacher, in Brianna's opinion. 

But Brianna really did want that day to end. She wanted to leave, go to the beach. She had been planning it all week, looking for motels near the beach, a place to eat and where she could leave her car. She hadn’t told Blair that she was going to leave, but that would be alright. 

As soon as miss Del Rio dismissed the class, Brianna dashed out of class, rushing to her dorm. She didn’t need much, her toiletries, a bathing suit, and some clothes. She pushed it all in a big backpack with some cash and her car keys. She was decent enough to wait until Blair came back and to give her a proper goodbye. 

Brianna’s phone buzzed, and she read the text. It was from Aquaria. 

_Hi, I’m leaving right now! I hope you have a nice weekend, we should do something soon!_

The had been texting just a few times that week. Brianna was still hurt and Aquaria probably sensed something was off, which held her back. 

Have fun! Drown safe! 

Brianna was quite sad that things went the way they had, but she had been trying to accept that. It would all be good, eventually. She could ask if Vixen knew someone who she might like. But that wasn’t a problem for now. 

“Hey,” Blair dropped her books on the small table close to the door, rather dramatically, but smiling as well. “I’m so happy! My mom got back from the hospital.” 

“Really? That’s great, Blair! I’m happy for you.” Brianna smiled, hugging her friend, who was also small, but still at least two inches taller than her. 

“They still don’t know what was wrong, but she’s doing much better! I’ll be going home next week to visit her.” Blair sat down on the chair next to Brianna. “Oh, are you going somewhere?” 

“Right, yeah,” It felt like the wrong time to leave, but Vanessa would crash at their dorm now that Brianna was leaving. “I’m going away for the weekend, to my grandmother.” 

Blair frowned, she never left unless there was a break. “Is she alright?” 

“Yes, don’t worry. I just want to see her again, you know?” She smiled, looking at her phone to distract herself. “Anyway, can you ask miss Cupid herself if she knows any cute girls? I’m ready to move on. I really need to get laid.” It was a joke, something to make Blair believe that she was alright. 

Blair chuckled, more than happy to talk to Vixen about that. “I’ll see what I can do for you,” She hugged her friend again. “Be safe, okay?” 

“I will,” And with a last wave, Brianna left. 

-

The scent of wood and vanilla sounded strange together, but to Blair, it smelled like home. To the person she really did love. “Why are you hugging me like that, I’m not leaving tonight.” Vanessa whispered, hugging her girlfriend back. 

“Shut up,” Blair buried her face in Vanessa’s neck, smiling. “Vanessa?” 

The dark haired lady hummed, running her hand through Blair’s soft hair. “I love you.” 

Vanessa smiled, knowing that Blair couldn’t see it. “That’s gay.” 

Blair laughed softly, looking up at her. “You’re terrible.” 

“Sure, if that’s what you want me to believe,” Vanessa grinned, leaning in for a kiss. “We both know that you don’t think that.” 

Blair bit her lip, leaning back against the couch a little. “Maybe so,” She tried to stop her smile from growing, knowing that Vanessa would comment on it. “But you can’t prove it.” 

Vanessa moved her hand over Blair’s tigh, and Blair wished they had more time. “Vixen and Aja are coming over in a few.” 

“Together? Do you want the campus to explode?” Blair laughed, throwing her head back, which Vanessa took advantage off, softly kissing her neck. 

“Stop it,” Blair pushed Vanessa away with a small laugh, not even really trying. “You’re taking advantage of me right now.”

“Because I love you.” 

“Didn’t you just say ‘that’s gay’?” Blair raised an eyebrow, leaning in for a quick kiss before diving under her arm and moving to the kitchen. 

“What are you even doing? We’re going out for dinner.” Vanessa rolled on her stomach on the tiny couch, watching as Blair boiled water. 

“Don’t you want tea? Or coffee? That’s what a good host does.” As the water was warming up, Blair turned around, smiling at Vanessa, who looked anything but comfortable on the couch. 

“Do you really think they care about that?” Vanessa sighed, rolling over again. “Anyway, where’s Brianna? With her girlfriend?” 

“To her grandma for the weekend,” Blair said, which caused the other girl to give Blair all the attention again. “Yes, you heard that right.”

“Nice,” Vanessa said, finally rolling off the couch and walking over to Blair. “Can I have a kiss?” 

“Sure,” Blair smiled, and Vanessa leaned in. “Are you good?” 

“Nope, I want another one.” Blair was bad at telling Vanessa no, so she listened. 

“Oh, gross,” Vixen said as she walked in, rolling her eyes. “I hate it already.” 

“Are they making out again?” Aja yelled, walking in with a large bag. “Oh, not anymore, I guess.” 

“What do you have with you?” Vanessa had moved to Blair’s side, her arms wrapped around her, holding her close. 

“Oh, I’m selling waffles,” Aja placed the bag on the table. “Wanna buy some?” 

Vanessa was already ready to say something that would make Blair laugh, but Blair was already nodding. “Sure, give me two packs.” 

They exchanged the waffles for money, and even doing something this silly and normal, Blair looked stunning. Vanessa couldn’t believe how happy she was, and she knew she wasn’t taking one single moment for granted. She really did love Blair, and even though it might be unrealistic, she hoped to one day marry her. 

Blair laughed at something, and Vanessa smiled at her, resisting the urge to kiss her head to make her laugh even more. 

“I’m hungry, guys,” Vixen said. “Can we leave?” 

No one had anything against it, so they moved to Vanessa’s car, the one who was surprisingly the best and most responsible driver out of all of them. Blair sat next to Vanessa, kissing her cheek as she got in, smiling at the others as Vanessa drove away. 

“Can we put some music on?’ 

“It’s literally a five-minute ride, Aja.” Vanessa rolled her eyes, but handed Blair her phone, who plugged it in, scrolling through the one playlist Aja approved off and putting on a random song. “Are you happy now?” 

Aja probably didn’t know the song, but loudly sang along, mostly talking gibberish and laughing. Vixen looked amused at her friend, and Blair leaned closer to Vanessa. “Have I told you about the restaurant? They have the best pasta’s and chocolate cake!” 

“In one dish?” Vanessa wished she could come up with a better joke, but Blair chuckled, resting her head against Vanessa’s shoulder. 

“Of course not, silly. But maybe I should try it,” She turned her head, kissing Vanessa’s jaw before sitting back up, smiling when the sign of the restaurant popped up. “Probably not the greatest idea.” 

Vanessa parked her car, plugging her phone out and the group left the car. Vanessa and Blair found each other again, holding hands as they walked inside. They got assigned a table. 

“How romantic, candles.” Aja turned to her friends, who were still holding hands. “Are you sure you don’t want to have a table for two? Maybe share a chair? Feed each other?” 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to punch you in the throat?” 

“Vanessa!” Blair slapped her arm, but Aja laughed, sitting down opposite of Vixen. Silence fell over the group when they opened their menu’s, the normal question of what everyone wanted to get breaking it as they laughed about some of the names on the menu. Once they ordered and received their drinks, Blair smiled at Vixen. 

“So, how’s the new roommate?” Vixen groaned, taking a sip from her drink, rolling her eyes. 

“She’s probably the worst one yet. She’s loud, weird and strangely interested in Brianna,” Vixen exclaimed, obviously frustrated. “And she loves Shrek and Bee Movie. From all movies, those!” 

Blair laughed, shaking her head. “Wait, interested in Brianna?” 

Vixen nodded. “Yeah, she saw her or something and keeps asking about her, I’m not sure what to think of it.” 

“Introduce them!” Vanessa said, butting in their conversation. “What can go wrong? You said it yourself, Brianna needs to forget about that blonde thing.” 

“She has a name,” Blair pointed out, but was interrupted by Aja. 

“Sounds like a perfect plan to me! They can hook up, roommate and Brianna happy, mute girl long forgotten!” 

“That’s just mean,” Blair rolled her eyes. “Aquaria is probably a nice girl, don’t talk about her like that.” She sighed. “But you know, maybe it wouldn’t be the worst-” 

“Whatever, Blair,” Aja said. “It’s a great idea, set them up!” Vixen frowned, not really feeling it as well, but they were right. It couldn’t get worse than how Brianna seemed to be feeling now that she was detoxing from Aquaria. 

“It’ll be fine,” Vanessa whispered, noticing the frown on Blair's face. “Vixen’s roommate sounds lovely, they’ll get along fine.” 

That did seem like what was going to happen. Besides, Brianna was perfectly able to speak for herself if she didn’t like the roommate. Tina? Blair couldn’t quite remember, but she hoped that the girl would be good to her friend. 

-

What now? The smell of the ocean was tempting, but the cold wind that stung into her skin, even through her sweater, held her back. At this point, it was a battle between what force of nature was stronger. Brianna had been standing at the edge of the water for about an hour. She wasn’t wearing shoes, the water touched her toes from time to time, making her shiver. 

The ocean seemed to reach until the edge of the world. The sun was setting, and the sight was breathtaking, but Brianna couldn’t focus on that. To do or not to do. The play on the quote had been floating on her mind, and she still didn’t know. It was just a little step. All she needed to do was walk forwards. She knew it would be cold, but her body would soon get used to it, and it wouldn’t be as bad. 

She might die, though. That was also something that held her back. No matter how many times she whispered to herself she had nothing to lose, she didn’t believe it. She had friends, loving parents and a sister. An aunt. She also wanted to continue her series on Netflix. THen there was Aquaria. Dying meant not seeing her, and her beauty was bewitching. It was quite sad that she hadn’t been able to push herself past Aquaria’s beauty. But standing there, on the shore, made her realize that it was also the mystery surrounding Aquaria that made her attractive. It Brianna had met her at uni, she probably would think she was pretty, but she’d never talk to her. 

It was the fact that Aquaria seemed to know everything in the world, the fact that she didn’t talk much about herself. The fact that she didn’t talk. The curiosity soon turned into liking her, though. And that’s why she knew that she would be fine if she moved into the water.

It was hard, trying to explain her trust in the person that saved her once, but the feeling she had after she was saved, wasn’t forgotten. 

Her hair was in a ponytail, and as she convinced herself to move forward, she pulled her sweater off. The water was awfully cold, the wind continued to sting all over her body and soon her teeth were clacking together as she sped up, into the water. The waves were pretty rough, too. She fought her way until she couldn’t stand anymore, swimming even further. At that point, going back wasn’t even an option. The waves were too strong, and she was so cold. Pushing forward, she took a long, deep breath, closing her eyes and mouth and letting herself fall under the waves. 

It was calmer there. There was no wind, even though the water was still freezing her. The sounds of the waves above her calmed Brianna down, and she opened her eyes. It was darker than last time, but this time she was scared. But she didn’t let it stop her. She swam deeper, further into the ocean, unable to breathe. She was already starting to miss the oxygen, but swimming back up wasn’t an option. 

So she swam, until she couldn’t anymore. Darkness was tingling at the edges of her vision, making beautiful patterns that Brianna welcomed. She didn’t fight the darkness that was dragging her down, even though she should. If she passed out, she wouldn’t see her savior. For just a second, Brianna was scared that they wouldn’t come. She saw nothing, except for some seaweed on the bottom. She felt the sand under her fingers for just a second before she started drifting back up a little, she didn’t have enough strength to stop it from happening. She let it happen, letting herself fall into the darkness as her lungs were burning. It wasn’t that unpleasant, because she knew that she’d feel better once she woke up. If she woke up. 

But that seemed far away. Everything seemed far away. Brianna let herself fall into the comforting darkness, which seemed warmer than the ocean. 

-

A splash. Her eyes opened, the sun was probably rising, the sky turning pink. Brianna kept still, for a moment. Breathing in, and out. Waiting for the pain to come, waiting for the uneasiness to come. She felt her hair clutching to her body, her shirt seemed to have disappeared, as did her shorts. The sand was tickling her thighs, her back. She carefully sat up, waiting for the pain or at least a cough to arrive. Nothing happened. 

She felt better than she had in a long while. She smiled, feeling as if she had been lifted off the earth, floating a few feet above the ground. Her head felt clear, as if she could do anything right now. Create a masterpiece, write a book, find a cure for cancer. Everything seemed possible, and it was even better than last time. 

Brianna pushed herself up, walking back into the water, stopping when it reacher her knees. The water was warm, which should have been impossible, but it felt comforting, nice. She wanted nothing more than to swim deep in the water, play with the fish. She laughed. It was all a little too strange, but she didn’t really care. Not at that moment. 

She ran back to the shore, happy that no one was there as she marched back to the road, hoping to find herself not too far away from her motel. Luckily, she wasn’t. She had to walk a mile, which felt like nothing. She hummed a song, feeling amazing. Truly better than she thought she could ever have. 

As she reached her motel, the man behind the desk looked at her strangely, Brianna greeted him with a bright smile as she moved into her room. She was beginning to feel a little bit chilly, but not as cold as she thought she would have. 

Stepping into her room, she decided to take a shower. Grabbing her things she moved to the bathroom, turning the water on as she took her underwear off, still smiling. She looked in the mirror, expecting to at least see some mascara stains, but there was nothing there. She looked better than ever. She was glowing, 

Stepping into the shower, the water felt perfect. That had never happened before. She wasn’t tired at all, she wasn’t hungry. She felt amazing, and wished she would feel like that every single day. 

After her quick shower, she got dressed, wrapping the towel around her head. She picked her phone up from the bedside table, texting Blair she would be back in a few hours, smiling at the picture Vixen had sent her from the night before. Aja and Blair were laughing, Vanessa the only one actually posing for the picture since Vixen got distracted by something last minute. Brianna chuckled, starting to gather her stuff. 

After quickly brushing her hair, she left. It was barely nine in the morning when she was already sitting in her car. She would probably be back at uni around noon. 

Humming along to the songs that came on the radio, she would wave at anyone, if she had the time. The ride was just as splendid as she felt. 

When Brianna arrived back in her dorm, she was still feeling amazing, smiling brightly at Blair and Vanessa, who were watching a video on Vanessa’s phone. “Hello,” 

Blair and Vanessa turned their head, Blair smiling at Brianna. “You look awfully happy, something happened?” Brianna walked closer, dropping her bag in a corner as she walked to the sink. 

“I just forgot how amazing my grandmother’s pancakes are,” Brianna took a glass and filled it with water. She was thirsty. “They’re even better than yours!” 

“Hard to believe,” Vanessa closed her phone. 

“You haven’t eaten my grandmother’s, so I’ll let it slide.” Vanessa glanced at Blair, because normally, Brianna would at least have talked back a little. “Anyway, how was your weekend?” 

Brianna was smiling at the duo with a bright smile, her second glass of water resting in her hands. She certainly was behaving strange, but that was okay. She seemed happy. “We had dinner,” Blair said. “And Aja and Vanessa have gotten you a date.” 

“Oh,” Brianna’s smile didn’t fall, it was hard to believe she was unaffected by the news. “With who?” 

“Uhm,” Blair looked at Vanessa for help, who didn’t have any problem sharing the news. 

“Tina, Vixen’s roommate.” 

“Wasn’t her name Tanya, though?” Brianna asked, and Blair nearly jumped up. 

“That’s it!” The smaller blonde grinned, taking tiny sips of her water. 

“Well, sure. But you guys can arrange something,” Brianna put her empty glass down. “I’m going to search for Aja, I have to talk to her really quick.” 

And she was off again. She had no idea where Aja might be. Her room seemed possible, since she might still be in bed. Maybe she was busy with another project she’d only be paying attention to for about a week, it was hard to guess. But her dorm was the first place Brianna went. 

Yelling came from inside the room, and Brianna knew she’d find Aja inside. Her and Valentina, her roommate, didn’t mix well together. After a weak knock, Brianna pushed the door open, seeing Valentina typing on her phone while Aja was yelling at her, probably moments away from grabbing the vase and throwing it at Valentina. 

“Hey,” Brianna quickly said, touching Aja’s shoulder. “Come with me.” 

“No! I’m not done yet!” Valentina looked up, smiling weakly at Brianna, who pulled Aja away. “What the fuck, Brianna?” 

“You need to get out of there for awhile,” She smiled at her dark haired friend, holding her hand around Aja’s as she pulled her along. She didn’t really know where she wanted to bring an angry Aja to. She realized that she was bringing her to the pool when they were in front of the door. “Wanna go for a swim?” 

Aja grumbled something in response, crossing her arms but looking far from as angry as she did before. Brianna pushed the heavy doors open, ignoring the sign that told her to keep out. Aja didn’t really move, still angry, even though Brianna had started to take her clothes off. 

“Are you really going to be angry? At least talk to me.” 

Aja sighed, not one to bottle everything up. “Valentina is just so frustrating,” Her fists were balled in anger, she was frowning. “Like, she literally took advantage of a teacher to give her a better score. If you don’t know what I mean; they fucked.” 

“Oh,” Brianna said, not quite sure how to react. 

“To make it even worse, I think she got my score pulled down! My paper was at least an eight, but I got a six! She knows that I need all the scores I can get, especially for that class.” 

“Can’t you go talk to the teacher? Ask about the score?” Brianna probably wasn’t helpful, but at least she tried. 

“Would it matter? They’ve been fucking, so they know that I and Valentina aren’t great.” It had always been hard to believe Valentina did the things everyone claimed she did. She was beautiful, and seemed to be doing well in every class. 

“I’m sorry,” Brianna didn’t really know what to say. “Maybe we can get back at her.”

“I’m not going to bang a teacher, Brianna.” The blonde laughed at that, shaking her head. 

“I just meant something evil, but not that evil,” She thought for a second. “Like dying her hair. It wouldn’t really harm her, but you’d get your giggles out of it.” 

“I like the way you think,” Aja grinned. Brianna knew she wouldn’t actually pull through with it, but at the very moment, it made her feel better. “What color are we thinking? Green? Blue?” 

Brianna laughed, moving closer to the water, which seemed more comforting than ever. “What do you think? I’ve never seen her with blue eyeshadow, though.” 

Aja began taking her shoes off as well, grinning. “Blue seems like the right color.” Brianna jumped into the water, which was warmer than the ocean had been. She didn’t taste salt on her lips or felt sand tickling her toes when she reached the surface again. 

Aja soon followed, taking a moment to cool off in the water. “Why did you need me? Or did you just came to see if I was fighting again?”

“I just wanted to talk to you,” Brianna shrugged. “The weekend was weird.” 

“You went to your grandma,” Aja laughed, letting herself float. “How weird could that have been?”

“I went to the shore, actually.” Aja turned to the smaller girl. 

“Is this about what happened during summer? Please tell me you didn’t do anything stupid.” 

“I’m still alive,” Brianna tried, pushing herself up on the edge of the pool again, her feet in the water. “I went for… a swim.” 

“Brianna, are you stupid? Are you really-” 

“I said I’m still alive!” Brianna stopped her friend. “I got saved again. I feel amazing, I wasn’t cold when I woke up, I couldn’t stop smiling. Aja, you don’t understand-” She stopped herself, because Brianna didn’t even understand it herself. 

“You’re going crazy, bitch,” Aja said. “You’re going to die. You might have! Just… you should stop. You’re bringing yourself in danger. Is that little bit of mystery really too much for you to handle?” 

Brianna thought about that for a moment. Was it? She wasn’t sure. Maybe not, but she wouldn’t even be able to let go of the feeling. The feeling as if the ocean had kissed her, blessed with luck and a guardian. Someone was protecting her, somehow. She didn’t expect Aja to understand. She hadn’t been there. So, Brianna closed her eyes, forcing a smile on her lips. 

“You’re right,” It was a lie. “I should probably just let it go, right?” 

“You’ll end up hurt if you don’t,” Aja pushed herself into the water again. “Anyway, have you heard about your date with Tayla?” 

Brianna laughed, not getting back in the water. “Tanya.”


	6. Chapter six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Sorry this one is a little later than usual! I was really busy and also didn't want to post it when it was finished just yet, since I'm going to France tomorrow and won't be able to write for a week. So, next update will be a little later as well! As an ending note, I would like to say that I absolutely hate this chapter. Not because it's written worse than other chapters but I really don't like how it turned out, sorry about that. I would like to thank my beta-reader a lot!!! Like, you literally saved my ass!!!

Turning the pages of her textbook, Brianna marked a few lines, chewing on her lip. She was nervous. She told herself she was going to be fine, it didn’t have to be a date, after all. Vixen claimed that Tanya was a cool, but annoying person. Brianna liked to think of her as someone like Vanessa or Aja, but she knew she’d never be like Aquaria.

“Are you nervous?” Blair rolled a strand of hair around the curling iron. She had been curling Brianna’s hair for the last twenty minutes, letting Brianna read her text book, which she claimed calmed her nerves. Truth was, it distracted her, pushing the nerves back, even though she knew they would come back. 

“A little,” Brianna answered truthfully. “I have never met or seen her.” 

“Are you sure that’s all?” God, Blair should become a therapist or something. She had no trouble looking through the girl. 

“We both know I like Aquaria. Well, liked, I guess.” Blair gave her a sad smile, grabbing the bottle of hairspray and spraying it over the new locks that were done. 

“That’s okay, you don’t have to fall in love. It’s just an option. You should know that there are a lot of fish in the sea. Aquaria might have been blue, but there are other blue fish. Maybe you’ll even like purple fish!” 

“There’s also a lot of trash in the sea, isn’t there?” Brianna sighed, taking her glasses off. Her makeup was already done, but she felt like she could use more highlighter. She blamed Aquaria for that.

“Brighten up, sweetheart,” the redhead behind her laughed, continuing to curl Brianna’s hair. “Do you know where you’re going?” 

“No idea,” Brianna confessed, grabbing the highlighter. “But you won’t tell me.” 

“You’re right,” Blair let go of the lock, moving onto some of the last strands. “It’ll be fun, Vixen asked Tanya if she needed help, and Vixen took care of food, but Tanya insisted on doing the rest.” 

“Is it going to be a whole day?” 

“She isn’t one to start easy, I guess.” Brianna chuckled, rolling her eyes. She was curious about Tanya, who seemed like a nice person on paper. She was also curious about what Tanya had arranged. Maybe she’d take her to the fair? Brianna hoped not, since that was where she’d taken Aquaria. Not that that mattered anymore. At least not to Aquaria. 

“It’ll be fun,” Blair assured her, spraying hairspray over her hair one last time. “Do you like your hair?” 

“Yeah, thanks, Blair,” Brianna got up, smiling at herself. She looked better than she had in a while. “Now we wait?” 

Blair nodded, looking at her friend with a smile as they moved back to the kitchen. Blair was still smiling as she sat down. “What’re you doing? Don’t tell me you’re going to drink coffee before your first date!” 

“Why not?” 

“Oh, my god,” Blair rolled her eyes. “It will smell bad, and your teeth won’t look as white.” Now it was Brianna’s turn to roll her eyes. 

“If I want to drink coffee, I will-” Brianna was pouring herself a cup when there was a knock on the door. Blair gave Brianna a look that the latter girl could only describe as funny; Blair was trying to be stern or something. Brianna rolled her eyes again, putting the cup and coffee down, moving swiftly to the door. 

She didn’t know who Tanya was, but the girl with blue hair that was standing in front of her door did remind her a lot of the person that Blair and Vixen had talked about. She was beautiful. Her eyebrows matched her blue hair ending on her shoulders. She was very curvy, dressed in a yellow top and a black skirt, showing off her curves even better. Her face was also beautiful. She had plump red lips, smiling brightly at the blonde in front of her. Her eyeliner winged, three dots under each one, accentuating her grey eyes. Even though she was wearing flats, Tanya was a little taller than Brianna, but she didn’t mind.

“Hey! I’m Tanya!” She said, leaning in to kiss Brianna’s cheek. Brianna blushed, surprised by what type of girl Tanya was. She was better than she had expected. “You must be Brianna, or have I just made a fool of myself because you’re Blair?” 

“No, no,” Brianna chuckled. “I’m Brianna, you’re all good.” 

“Still a fool though,” Tanya said. “Are you ready to go? It’ll be a long day, are you sure you want to wear those heels?” Brianna looked down at her feet. She was wearing her favorite pair of heels, high enough to make her look good, but she could walk in them for a few hours. 

“Oh, I’m literally a leprechaun when I’m not wearing them, I’m used to it,” Brianna said, making Tanya laugh as Brianna grabbed her purse and smiled at Tanya’s laugh. Blair winked at Brianna as she turned around to close the door. Brianna couldn’t help but smile, because apparently, it was going to be better than she had even dared to hope. 

Together they walked around the school, silence settling over them for a brief second. “So, Brianna,” Tanya looked at the girl that was walking next to her, who was even prettier in person. “Tell me the most random fact about yourself you can think of.” 

Brianna blinked a few times, looking at the grinning girl, her mind going blank. “Uhm,” she looked back in front of her. “I once ran into a traffic light, and broke a rib.” 

Tanya laughed, throwing her head back a little. “How did you even manage to do that?” 

“I don’t know,” Brianna chuckled. “I was running for some reason, and I looked over my shoulder. Stupid, I know.” Tanya laughed a little more, mumbling something under her breath, Brianna smiled at her. “What about you?” 

“Oh, the only picture in my favorites is the best picture of Shrek.” 

“What?” 

“Just in my opinion,” she shrugged, taking out her phone and scrolling through the albums. She showed her favorite folder, which had only one picture of Shrek. “I love that movie.” 

“Oh, my god,” Brianna shook her head, Tanya taking the phone back. 

“Don’t even try to judge me, sweetheart,” Tanya pushed the doors open, letting Brianna walk through first. “After you, my fair lady.” 

“Thank you so much, my lovely dame,” Brianna chuckled, bowing as well. Tanya sure was a nice person, charming too. “So, are you finally going to tell me where we’re going?” 

“Wouldn’t that blow the surprise?” Tanya raised her eyebrows as she joined her, and Brianna couldn’t help but notice that the sun was pretty nice for an October day. “I can lift a tip of the mystery, though. Do you want to go with a taxi, bus or walk?” 

“What do you suggest?” Brianna smiled, looking at the lady, who brushed her hair out of her face. 

“My favorite is the bus, but not everyone is poor, so…” 

“The bus it is,” Brianna knew where the bus stop was, even though she never used it. She could drive, after all. “You can’t drive?” 

“Sweetie,” somehow, the sweet word sounded sarcastic when spoken by Tanya. “Since when can gays drive?” 

Brianna laughed, she was happy walking next to Tanya, something she hadn’t expected to happen. “I can drive, though.” 

“Yeah, but you’re too pretty to be smart as well, so you’re fucking with all the stereotypes.” 

“Fair enough,” Brianna sat down on the small bench, Tanya leaning against the glass. “Not sitting down?” 

“No, I’m actually going to turn around in a few seconds so you can look at my bangin’ booty and I can act like I have no idea you’re doing so.” 

“Bangin’ booty?” Brianna raised her eyebrows. 

“Are you saying I don’t have one? Do I have a hangin’ booty?” 

“Nope,” Brianna smiled, and Tanya sat down next the the blonde after all. They waited in silence again. It wasn’t uncomfortable, though. Tanya had a nice vibe, and Brianna could already tell that she was going to have a nice day. She found herself saying that over and over again, almost as if forcing herself to have a good day. 

The bus arrived and they bought tickets, choosing a seat near the back. “I remember in high school,” Tanya began. “Everyone wanted to sit in the back just so they could be dramatic when the bus drove over a speed bump. It was the most silly thing.” 

“So you didn’t want to sit in the back?” Brianna remembered it as well, loving to be thrown up in the air, even though she did most of it herself. It was a happy time, for her. 

“Hold up, sweetie, I didn’t say that.” Tanya chuckled. “I was always the first. I literally pushed kids out of the way to bump my head against the roof.” 

“How nice of you,” Brianna said, voice dry. Talking to Tanya was easy, it was as if they’d known each other for years. Mostly because Tanya happened to be a nice and warm girl, able to make a conversation about everything. As Tanya was speaking, Brianna noticed a faint accent - maybe Scottish. It was cute, and fun to listen to. However, the blonde couldn’t help but wonder what Aquaria would sound like. She looked like someone who would fake an accent. She looked like someone who would have a beautiful sounding laugh. 

“Anyway, this is the most important question of today,” Tanya talked fast, and Brianna found herself surprised by her question. 

“If you’re going to ask me if I have a favorite Shrek picture-” she started, but was cut off by her loud laugh. The sound didn’t fit with what Brianna saw in front of her. 

“No, no, don’t worry,” Tanya calmed herself down, her laughter dying down. “I was going to ask what your favorite ice cream flavor was.”

“I thought you said important?” Tanya was a lovely girl, but something was off. At least to Brianna something felt off. As if the blue haired girl in front of her was still acting as if she was sixteen, seventeen. It was charming, sure, but not something Brianna could find herself attracted to. “Probably strawberry or something, I don’t eat a lot of ice cream.” 

“Well, spoiler, we’re going to go and eat some ice cream now. You really have to try this mix that’s so bad, it turns good.” It was hard to believe, but she smiled, nodding. 

Even though, Brianna did enjoy Tanya’s talk, it felt comfortable and as if they were just talking in a bar after a few drinks. Sure, Tanya was beautiful, but she was also different. Brianna’s mind was still set on Aquaria’s kind of different, and being open minded with that on her mind, was hard. She realized her opinions were swinging back and forth very much. 

Tanya told Brianna that they had to leave the bus in front of a large mall. Tripling around on her heels in a bus was something she hadn’t planned, and Tanya grabbed her hand. “Careful.” 

The gesture was kind and soft, and Brianna couldn’t help but be flattered. “Thanks,” she said as Tanya hopped out of the bus to help her. She didn’t let go of the smaller hand as they continued walking. 

“Do you want to get ice cream? If you don’t like it that much, we can always get something else.” 

“I normally drink milkshakes,” Brianna shrugged, her hand tingling at the warm sensation. The last time someone held her hand in a romantic setting had been ages ago, and Brianna couldn’t help but feel something. “But ice cream sounds good.” 

“I know just the place,” Tanya grinned at the blonde. The taller girl led her date through small paths, until they reached the back entrance of the mall. It was obviously less used, just like the little stores. It was cute, though. It felt like the perfect spot to have a conversation and a little stroll. However, the stroll was cut short as Tanya lead Brianna into the first shop. It was hard to say what they actually sold, since there was ice cream, but an elderly couple was eating soup. There was a large wall as well, filled with candy behind the counter.

“I didn’t know you worked here,” Brianna uttered when she noticed who was working, she didn’t even know Adore had a job. Since the last time she saw her, her hair color had changed. Her hair was black, and the tips were dyed a bright blue. “Since when?”

“You know her?” Tanya looked at Adore, who was looking quite pretty with her blue glitter makeup. 

“Yeah, she’s friends with Aja and Trixie.” 

“I’m Adore,” She laughed from behind the counter. “Nice to meet you, what can I get you?” 

“Chocolate and gummy bear ice cream, please,” Tanya let go of Brianna’s hand, reaching for her backpack to grab her wallet. “Are you at our college? Should I have been seeing you around?”

“Yeah, I am. Are you guys on a date? I heard something about that.” 

Brianna blushed. The word was traveling around. Of course. She was friends with Aja, what did she even expect? “We are,” it was hard to admit out loud, since the memory of Aquaria was fresh, and the pain was still present, no matter what she tried to tell herself. 

“Can you believe my luck?” Tanya grinned. “Anyway, what do you want, Brianna?” 

“Chocolate milkshake, please.” Normally, she would have ordered a strawberry one, but she was thinking about Aquaria, who had told her that she could switch things up, and so she did. 

When they got their order, Tanya paid, even though Brianna said she didn’t mind paying. They went out of the mall immediately. Tanya claimed that what she had planned took some time. “I promise it’ll be worth it, though.” 

“I believe you,” Brianna sipped from her milkshake, wondering why Adore was still working there after serving things like that. “Are you still not going to tell me?” 

“No,” Tanya laughed, her ice cream finished. “Do you like surprises? I hope you do, otherwise this isn’t going great.” 

She didn’t mind, but Brianna really did want to know what to expect. “I don’t come here often, so everything is a surprise today.” 

Tanya chuckled, and Brianna knew why she didn’t came into the city a lot. It was busy, way busier than her university. She liked to have people around her, but the aliveness that came with it, felt weird. People were around her, but she was a no one to them. It felt lonely, and she couldn’t imagine herself living there. 

But in that moment, Tanya was with her. She still thought Tanya was nice. She was the kind of person that felt like everyone’s friend. 

“Are you okay?” 

Brianna looked up, smiling at the beautiful girl. She noticed that her highlighter was purple, fitting perfectly with her blue hair. “I am, sorry.” 

“It’s fine,” Tanya reached for Brianna’s hand again, and Brianna didn’t fight it. “I have to ask you this, though. Are you terribly afraid of the water?” 

After what Brianna had been through and put herself through, she should be. But the thing was, she wasn’t. The water felt comforting, even its energy feeling like a hug. “I love the water. Are we going swimming? I didn’t bring my bathing suit.”

“Oh, god no, sweetheart.” Tanya laughed a little, making a sudden turn Brianna didn’t expect. She was lead into a large hall, some fish tanks filling the space. It wasn’t too hot, and the lights were dim. 

“An aquarium?!” 

“Is that a happy surprised face, or a face that’s like ‘please take me away now’?” 

“Definitely the first one!” The last time Brianna had been to an aquarium had been ages ago, when her dad was still living with her mom. She saw all kinds of fish. It was one of her favorite memories. “Thank you so much.” 

“Not a problem,” The other girl grinned, opening her backpack and pulling two tickets out. “Here you go.” 

Walking through the gates, Brianna swore she could have jumped up and down with excitement. She loved fish, she loved water. The dim light made her grin even bigger, the fish better visible. 

Neither of the girls could name the species, so they decided to call them different names. Brianna’s favorite was Dr. Smalldick, claimed by Tanya. 

The glass tunnel made Tanya uncomfortable, since very large fish were swimming above, but Brianna forced her through. 

Tanya ended up pointing at random fish, claiming they resembled Brianna. At first it was cute, until she began pointing at the ugly fish, and Brianna just had to get back to her. To be fair, they acted like ten year olds. But Brianna had fun. She had so much fun. Tanya might not be the kind of person she’d date, but she was the kind of girl she could have fun with. 

One of the last tanks was large, full of colorful fish. There was small bench there, decorated with starfish and Nemo-fish, and it was obviously made for kids. The girls sat down, hands intertwined. They were looking at the tank together, and Tanya had the biggest smile on her face. 

“Thank you for this,” Brianna didn’t look at her date, but she had to say something. “I had a great time.” 

“Do you really think we’re done?” as Tanya said that, two teenagers stopped, standing next to the bench, kissing each other. Something about that moment made Brianna want to kiss Tanya as well. “We’re not, it’s almost dinner time!” 

Tanya’s smile was so bright, her teeth white, even though she was wearing bright red lipstick. Her eyes were twinkling, and her hand was warm in Brianna’s. Maybe it was because she hadn’t thought about Aquaria since they stepped into the aquarium, maybe it was a moment thing or maybe Brianna just wanted to be touched. But she did what she did, and she didn’t regret it at that moment. She closed the gap between them, Tanya’s lips soft against hers. Brianna’s free hand moved to Tanya’s face, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she kissed her. Tanya kissed her back. Of course she did. Their fingers were still intertwined, and Brianna kept her hand on Tanya’s cheek. 

When they pulled back, they were both smiling. “So,” Brianna breathed out. “What’s for dinner?” 

-

After the pancakes and cleaning up the mess they made with it, Tanya walked Brianna back to her dorm, kissing her goodbye. It felt like a dream, it felt nice. 

When Brianna walked into her dorm and saw Blair and Aja sitting on the couch, sipping from a bottle of wine, she realized that she might have made a mistake. “How was it?” Blair jolted up, smiling hopefully, which looked funny since she had a half empty bottle of wine in her hand. 

“It was fun,” Brianna took off her heels. “We went to the aquarium, had pancakes.” 

“But did you kiss?” Aja said, even more drunk than Blair. 

“Yeah,” 

“Oh, my god!” Blair placed the bottle down, grinning wider. “Tell me everything!” 

“It wasn’t a big deal,” Brianna did like kissing Tanya, but it wasn’t fair. She couldn’t see them actually dating. “Just a few kisses, you know?” Brianna smiled. 

“Anyway,” Blair looked disappointed, but Brianna didn’t mind too much. “Do you want to join us?” 

“I think I’m going for a walk, it’s been a…” Brianna stopped herself and slipped the heels back on. It had been a heavy day. She hadn’t felt it until the moment she entered her dorm again, but she couldn’t say that. “Nice day.” 

“Oh,” Blair frowned, Aja wasn’t paying much attention, which Brianna was grateful for. “Okay, are you going to be out long?” 

“Probably not,” The blonde took a sweater from her room, returning quickly. “A few minutes, don’t worry.” She smiled, leaving once again. 

It wasn’t like she was sad about the day, because it had been great, but she was nervous, because she didn’t feel like she wanted to be Tanya’s girlfriend. However, she initiated the first kiss herself, that was the worst thing. Brianna liked to be straight-forward with people, and it already felt like she was suffocating with lies. 

It was pretty cold outside, so she slipped her sweater on over her dress. She was wearing heels, which probably wasn’t the best idea. She didn’t even know where she was going. Brianna didn’t like walking all too much, preferring to stay inside with a book or a few friends. But sometimes the need to get away was there. It wasn’t like she planned it that way, but it was usually when she was at home. Things tended to heat up between her, her mom and her brother. She wished she knew why, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. 

Her feet had decided to take her to the park, it was almost empty, since it was getting dark. The small playground close to the pond was empty, and Brianna kicked her shoes off, sitting on one of the swings. They felt like sad swings, at that very moment. Brianna was sad, after all. She was sad because Aquaria didn’t like her back. She was sad because Tanya was nice and pretty, but not Aquaria. 

Her phone buzzed, and Brianna wondered if she should check. She didn’t feel like it. She felt strange. Disconnected. Deciding to check her phone after all, only to give herself something to do, Brianna was surprised to see a message from Aquaria. 

(Aquaria): Are you sitting on the swing in the park? Alone? Are you depressed or on crack?

Brianna smiled at the text, biting her lip before answering. 

(Brianna): Stalking me? Quite sad.

(Aquaria): You wish. 

(Aquaria): Can I join you?

(Brianna): Sure.

She wondered how Aquaria even saw her, but it didn’t matter. She was happy that Aquaria was joining her. The taller girl appeared very soon, looking as stunning as ever. She was wearing a skirt, with probably another shirt underneath her big sweater. Her full hair was pulled back into a bun. 

“Hey,” Brianna smiled, and Aquaria kicked her shoes off as well, joining the older girl. Brianna was swinging back and forth a little, silence falling over the girls. After what could have been a few minutes but also three hours, Aquaria took her phone from her pocket, typing something before showing it to Brianna. 

_You went out today, didn’t you?_

“I did. With Tanya, Vixen’s roommate. She’s cool,” Brianna swallowed, she didn’t want to call it a date. Not with Aquaria next to her. 

_Did you have fun?_

“We did,” She didn’t want to talk about it anymore, she liked still Aquaria a lot, and wanted to change the subject. “It’s Halloween in a few weeks, we’ll be watching movies in our dorm and heading out after. Do you want to join us?” 

Aquaria smiled, nodding. _Costume party?_

“Of course, we’re not animals,” Brianna scoffed. “I’m happy you’re coming, though.” 

Aquaria looked at the sand, which was collecting between her toes as she curled them, a few curls falling from her bun. She looked stunning. Brianna could just stay there forever, looking at the beautiful girl next to her. But of course that wouldn’t be realistic. She would have to leave soon, but at least Aquaria could walk with her. Sitting in silence with Aquaria was better than the busy city she had visited that day. This felt comforting, it felt right. Even though the things Brianna wanted to happen between them wouldn’t happen, sitting with her and talking was better than anything else, at least for that moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you'd like to see me have mental breakdowns a few times a day, you should follow me on tumblr; @tropicaldepressionkatya !


	7. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh wow, it's been a hot minute! I'm sorry for the wait, I just want to tell you that this isn't beta-ed yet, but I felt bad for making everyone wait and was getting annoyed with the 20000 ask a day asking when I'm updating lol. I love you all, thanks for reading!  
> (It's not beta-ed but my friend did proofread it so there should be less mistakes now!)

“God damnit, Aja, I fucking hate you!” Brianna huffed, clutching at her chest. She hadn’t expected Aja to jump out from behind the door. Aja laughed while Brianna tried to calm her heartbeat down. Trixie and Adore were sitting on the couch, Katya leaning against it, between Trixie’s legs. Blair and Vanessa were getting snacks in the kitchen, and Aja had been bullying Brianna for the last twenty minutes. Jumping up from behind objects, throwing fake spiders at her. It was time Vixen or Aquaria arrived. 

“You’re such a pussy, I love it,” Aja nudged Brianna with her shoulder before joining the three girls on the couch. There wasn’t enough space for them all, so Blair moved the coffee table away, placing pillows and blankets on the floor so everyone would be comfortable. 

“So we have mummy fingers, spider candy and Bloody Mary’s,” Blair was carrying a big tray, it was surprising she hadn’t spilled anything yet. “Have we decided on a movie already?” 

“I want to see Candyman,” Katya grinned. “But Trixie doesn’t like that movie.” 

“I’m not about the filled-with-bees life, sorry,” Trixie shrugged. “I suggested Silence of the Lambs but-” 

“That’s not a real Halloween movie!” Katya interrupted. “We have to make it scary!” 

“Why don’t we watch something like ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’? That’s a classic,” Blair suggested, Vanessa nodded in agreement, forcing herself next to Adore on the couch. “Besides, it’s only seven o’clock, we can at least watch two movies before the party starts!” 

Everyone was already in costume, Katya the only one who looked scary. Adore looked the same, just with some blood on her face and shirt. Trixie was wearing a slutty costume Brianna didn’t understand. Blair was a princess, dressed in a white gown. Vanessa was dressed similar, wearing a black dress to match her girlfriend. Brianna had made the bad decision to dress as the little mermaid, she’d been awkwardly shuffling around for hours. 

She wondered what Aquaria would be wearing. She didn’t have much time to think about that, though, since there was a knock on her dorm door. Blair, who was sitting on Vanessa’s lap glanced at her dorm mate with pleading eyes. 

So, Brianna moved to the door, smiling when she saw Vixen. And Tanya. “Hello,” She let them in. “Didn’t know Tanya was tagging along.” 

Tanya smiled at Brianna, she looked terrifying. Her face was pale, red eyeshadow and lipstick. “Tonight I’m bloody Mary,” She pulled out a small mirror. “Wanna give it a try?” 

“Don’t scare Brianna,” Vixen said, brushing past them. “I brought snacks!” 

Vixen threw a pack of Halloween candy towards Aja, grabbing one of the cocktails as she sat down on the floor. 

“Hey,” Tanya said softly. “I didn’t hear from you this week.” 

“Yeah,” Brianna had avoided the girl, not wanting to hurt her. But Brianna felt even guiltier about that. “Sorry about that, I was really busy.” She smiled, hoping it would look apologetic. Avoiding problems seemed like a better idea than dealing with them. 

“It’s okay,” Tanya handed her a small bottle of vodka. “Here, maybe you’ll need it.” With a warm smile, she moved towards the obnoxious group. Brianna wanted to join them when someone knocked on the door again. Aquaria was the last one they were expecting, Brianna’s heart jumped. Aquaria looked like a slutty Teletubby in her red short and bra. The headpiece was the only thing that gave her costume away. She did look beautiful, though. 

“Aquaria, come on in,” Brianna shuffled aside, letting the taller blonde in. “You look-” 

Aquaria scribbled something down, grinning. _Amazing, I know. ___

__Brianna wasn’t going to disagree with that. “You read my mind.” Brianna closed the door behind Aquaria, who was walking over to the group, Katya was the first to call the girl out for looking beautiful. That wasn’t strange, at least not to Brianna. Aquaria was easily the prettiest girl in the room, or the whole school._ _

__Brianna moved back to the group, kind of slow, and Aquaria’s eyes were on her. However, Tanya got up, walking up to Brianna with a laugh. “God, you’re so slow. Come here, can I pick you up?”_ _

__Brianna was caught off guard by that, especially since Tanya didn’t look very strong. “God, no,” She shook her head. “I have legs.”_ _

__Blair was looking at Brianna in a way that she couldn’t quite read, while Vixen grinned and Aquaria was looking at Trixie. Vanessa was the one to tell the other girls what movie they were going to watch. Katya got up, handing out candy and cocktails and starting the movie. Tanya was sitting in front of Adore, who whispered something to the blue haired girl. Tanya laughed, whispering something back. It was strange, seeing Tanya act and talk to people like she did to Brianna._ _

__Once the movie started, Brianna noticed that Aquaria started moving closer each time the typical scary music began, until she was basically sitting on Brianna’s lap, grabbing for her arm. Brianna happened to find it rather amusing, smiling at the blonde. It wasn’t until a jump scare when Aquaria buried her face against Brianna’s shoulder. The smaller girl wrapped her arm around her shoulders, gently petting her hair. It felt natural._ _

__“Aw, are you scared?” Aja teased Aquaria, poking her side with her foot. Her shoes having disappeared probably some time ago. “It’s okay, it’s not real.”_ _

__Aquaria looked up at Aja, her eyes holding an annoyed, slightly angry look. It was different from the sweet, possibly naive Aquaria Brianna would see when they’re together. There was so much about Aquaria Brianna didn’t know yet, there was so much she wanted to know._ _

__“Leave her alone, Aja,” Brianna rolled her eyes, pulling her arm back. “Can you just be not annoying for a second?”_ _

__Vanessa snorted, shaking her head. “That’s like asking the earth to stop spinning.”_ _

__“Thanks, sis,” Aja got up, giving Brianna a light smack against the back of her head as she moved past. “Does anyone else want a drink?” A few people asked for one, and Tanya scooted closer._ _

__“Vanessa insulted you! Why are you slapping me?” Brianna reached for Aja’s laugh, but she was too fast, laughing at Brianna’s useless attempt._ _

__“Did you like the movie? I’ve never seen it before.” Tanya asked, inspecting her nails. They were short, painted blue to match her hair._ _

__“You haven’t?” Aquaria was still sitting close, her leg brushing Brianna’s. “You’ve been missing out, I guess.”_ _

__“Apparently!” Tanya laughed. “I wonder what else I was missing out on,” Her smile probably meant something, but Brianna didn’t understand. Not when Aquaria’s fingers where brushing hers. When she noticed, Tanya cleared her throat. “So, a party tonight?”_ _

__“Yeah,” Aja brushed past Brianna. “There’s lots of booze and people bone everywhere.”_ _

__“Are you that kinda gal?” Tanya tucked a strand of hair behind her ear._ _

__“What?”_ _

__“Booze and boning!” Tanya laughed. Brianna felt Aquaria lace their fingers together. Brianna couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe._ _

__“Not really,” Brianna blushed, suddenly feeling uncomfortable under the gaze of both Tanya and Aquaria. Luckily for her, Blair returned, handing Tanya a new cocktail Aja was supposed to bring. “Anyway, it’s still really early, so we’re probably going to watch a second movie and arrive fashionably late.”_ _

__“Sounds like a plan,” Tanya smiled. “Another scary one? Aquaria here looks like she might really die if it is.”_ _

__Aquaria rolled her eyes, moving a little further away from Brianna. “She’ll be fine,” The way Tanya talked about Aquaria annoyed her more than she’d like to admit. “It’s Halloween.”_ _

__Aquaria smiled at Brianna when Aja gently pulled her hair. “What is wrong with you?” She snapped._ _

__“A lot, but that’s not the point, is it?”_ _

__“What movie are we gonna watch now? Do I need to get high or not?” Adore whined, sipping from her cocktail._ _

__“Honey, you already smoked pot, we all know.” Trixie said, her hand in Katya’s._ _

__Adore laughed, admitting it was true. “Fine! Does anyone want to come with me?”_ _

__“Yeah,” Vanessa put on a coat. “I need some air, bitch.”_ _

__Surprisingly, Blair didn’t stop her. Blair hated it when Vanessa smoked, so Vanessa tried to not smoke when Blair was near. It was strange, to say at least. They seemed to be more than fine just minutes ago._ _

__Her eyes searching for her friend, Brianna was surprised to not find her. She had been on the couch just a minute ago._ _

__“Hey, have you seen Blair?” Aquaria shook her head, just like Tanya. “I’ll be right back.”_ _

__Vixen joined Brianna with a worried frown. “What’s up?”_ _

__“I’m not sure,” Brianna but her lip, moving to the kitchen. “Vanessa usually doesn’t smoke when Blair is near.”_ _

__“Yeah, I noticed. If she hurt Blair I will murder her with a fucking spoon.” Vixen spat, stopping as soon as she saw Blair sitting on the kitchen counter, a mug of tea in her hands._ _

__“Blair? Everything okay?” Brianna carefully said, Vixen speeding towards the smaller girl._ _

__“Hmm?” She looked up with a soft smile. “Oh, yes,”_ _

__“Did you fight with Vanessa?”_ _

__“Way to be sensitive, Bri,” Vixen hissed, taking Blair’s hands, rubbing soothing circles on the back of her hand._ _

__“It’s fine,” She smiled. “We had a little bit of a fallout, I guess. We didn’t agree on something small, no big deal.” Blair spoke softly, and both Brianna and Vixen knew it was more than just a little fallout._ _

__“Are you sure?” Vixen squeezed her hand slightly. “I can still fuck her up. Offer still stands.”_ _

__“It’s been like, years since you made that offer,” Blair chuckled._ _

__Brianna moved closer, taking Blair’s other hand that was now free, her tea standing on the counter. “I’m sure the offer will still stand twenty years from now on,” At that, Blair smiled._ _

__“I love you guys.”_ _

__“Don’t get cheesy,” Vixen prompted, helping Blair off of the counter. “We have a movie to watch.”_ _

__Whenever Blair and Vanessa had a little fight or disagreement, Blair felt horrible. It hurt both Vixen and Brianna to watch, and unfortunately, they had to see it happen quite a few times. But now, Blair seemed fine. At least better than previous times._ _

__Brianna sat back down on her place on the floor next to Aquaria. Tanya had moved on to Katya and Trixie. Vixen sat next to Blair, an arm already around her shoulders._ _

__Aquaria looked at Brianna with a raised eyebrow, the unspoken question laying between them._ _

__“Troubles in paradise,” She sat down next to the blonde. “They’ll be okay.”_ _

__Shortly after Aquaria offered Blair a sad smile before the next movie began. It was Annabelle, which wasn’t as good as the one before. Apparently, it was a movie ‘the heteros would die for’ according to Katya. Brianna had to admit she wasn’t really watching, though. She was too focused on Aquaria’s head on her shoulder and their intertwined fingers resting in Brianna’s lap._ _

__When Vanessa and Adore walked back in, five minutes into the movie, they were greeted by angry glances coming from Vixen and Brianna. Vanessa’s face turned red, even though Brianna was certain it wasn’t because she was feeling bad. Not yet, at least._ _

__Brianna, who wasn’t a big fan of horror movies, thought the movie was underwhelming. The group took a few more shots and added some more powder to their faces. Then, they left._ _

__The party would take place at Ginger’s house. Ginger had graduated a few years ago, but there was a big party there, every Halloween. There was booze, stupid games, and a big couch to sleep on. Even the people who didn’t like Halloween too much went there, getting water, hooking up or just there to see some drama._ _

__Aquaria’s hand was in Brianna’s, while Tanya was chatting with Adore, possibly ignoring Brianna. But she didn’t care. Holding Aquaria’s hand felt so much better._ _

__“Ginger’s parties are always great, Katya knows her. That’s how we get in,” Brianna told Aquaria, who was looking at the slutty dressed girls chatting up boys in the garden and street. “Yeah, there’ll be a lot of hooking up, so beware of the rooms with closed doors. Made that mistake once, never again.”_ _

__Aquaria smiled warmly at Brianna, whose insides could just have melted._ _

__Vixen interrupted their moment by slinging her arm around Brianna’s neck._ _

__“Choke me, daddy.”_ _

__“You really gotta stop that, you cunt!” Vixen called out, shoving her shoulder. "It's not funny anymore."_ _

__-_ _

__“Hey, you wanna play some truth or dare?” Tanya poked her head around the corner, where Brianna, Aquaria and Trixie had been talking. “Katya is joining as well.”_ _

__The girls joined after shrugging, being led to the basement where the music wasn’t as loud. Ginger was sitting on the couch, laughing with Katya and a few girls Brianna recognized from college. Kim, Naomi, Juju, Shangela, and Violet were playing beer pong, Violet and Naomi obviously wasted._ _

__“You found some victims!” Ginger got up, a little wobbly. “Ah, Trixie, Brianna, glad you could join.” Ginger had always been one of Katya’s best friends until Trixie tagged along. But Ginger never blamed Trixie for any of that. At least not that they knew of. “Who wants to play truth or dare?! Eighteen plus only!”_ _

__Soon there was a group of girls gathered, Blair and Vanessa avoiding each other’s eyes, Naomi leaning heavily against Kim’s shoulder and Violet already looking bored. Ginger had given Aquaria a whiteboard and a marker, which Brianna thought was sweet and thoughtful._ _

__“Okay, I’ll begin,” Katya grinned, her eyes scanning the room. “Tanya! Truth or dare?”_ _

__The girl her cheeks turned red. “Uh, truth?”_ _

__“Boring!” Katya laughed, thinking of a question. “Okay, I have one! What’s the weirdest place you ever had sex?”_ _

__If possible, the girl got even redder, burying her head in her hands. “I didn’t drink enough for this!”_ _

__“Come on, give her the bottle!” Katya pointed at Aja, who glared at Katya before giving her precious bottle to the girl. Tanya took a long sip, sighing._ _

__“Fine, probably in the parking lot of a fancy restaurant,” The group laughed or ‘oh’-ed before she could explain herself. “Like, not even in a car, just against the wall, next to the window.”_ _

__“That’s wild, sis,” Aja gaped at her. “Was it good sex, though?”_ _

__“I’ve had worse,” She grinned, taking another sip of the liquid. “Anyways,” Tanya’s she’s looked over the circle. She still didn’t meet Brianna’s eyes. “Aquaria.”_ _

__Aquaria’s handwriting was beautiful. It was nearly cursive, even in the crappy whiteboard. _Dare.__ _

__“This is gonna be good,” Aja chuckled as Tanya was clearly thinking._ _

__“I have one! Take your boobs out for one round.”_ _

__Aquaria turned red, and Brianna was already getting angry._ _

__“Tanya, what the fuck, why are you-“_ _

__“Relax! I’m not saying we should see them. You can put your hands over them, whatever, I don’t care.” There was something about the way was carrying herself that moment that made Brianna frown. The way she grinned. She was slightly drunk, but if drunk Tanya did things like _that_ , Brianna wasn't sure if she liked her enough to have her number. _ _

__“You don’t have to,” Brianna whispered. “We can just go now, have a drink and go play Just Dance.”_ _

__But Aquaria shook her head, turning around and taking her bra off. She turned back around, the whiteboard shielding her upper body. Brianna tried her hardest not to glance in her direction._ _

___Truth or dare Vanessa,_ Aquaria wrote down, a little awkward since the back of the board was shielding her body. _ _

__Vanessa pushed her chest out, flicking her hair back. “Dare.”_ _

___I dare you to play seven minutes in heaven with Blair._ Trixie and Katya laughed, Aja frowned and Vixen and Brianna looked at each other. _ _

__“I thought you were going to challenge me, hoe,” Vanessa said, swallowing visibly. “Come with me, Blair?”_ _

__The girls stepped into the closet, and Brianna leaned closer to Aquaria. “What the fuck?” She whisper-yelled. “They’re fighting and you’re letting them do that?”_ _

___They have to talk eventually._ Was all Aquaria wrote._ _

__Shangela took it upon herself to ask Trixie truth or dare as the seven minutes were ticking by. Trixie chose truth and she had to tell a sexual encounter between her and Katya. So, Trixie told the story about how they had sex in the changing rooms once. She didn’t mind telling details after especially Aja begged her for more._ _

__Trixie dared Kim to wake Naomi up by throwing water over her face. She did, but Naomi didn’t even wake up. She was too wasted, apparently. Meanwhile, Aquaria had put on her bra again, and Brianna felt very proud for not looking._ _

__Then, Vanessa and Blair walked in. Vanessa’s face was red, possibly with anger. They didn’t even get to see Blair, who just left the room. Vixen got up, following her friend. It wasn’t like Brianna didn’t want to check on Blair, but she had quite a few shots, her judgment wasn’t great so she trusted Vixen._ _

__“Right,” Vanessa sat back down, running a hand through her hair. “Truth or dare?” She turned to Brianna._ _

__Feeling too proud to say truth, she said dare._ _

__“I dare you to give Aquaria a hickey.”_ _

__There was already alcohol in her system, and the attraction was certainly there. Brianna had expected her to have a problem with a dare like that, but that wasn’t the case._ _

__“Is that okay?” Aquaria nodded, and Brianna scooted closer, straddling her lap. Her hands finding Brianna’s waist as she looked up at the blonde._ _

__Carefully, Brianna moved a lock of blonde hair, brushing it behind Aquaria’s ear to expose her neck. It all seemed to go in slow motion. Her mouth moved to her neck, starting with a few soft kisses before she began to suck on the sensitive skin. Aquaria was squeezing her waist, Brianna’s hand moving to the back of the other girl’s neck, pulling her closer as her fingers brushed her scalp._ _

__Aquaria sucked in a breath, and when Brianna shifted just a little, the tiniest whimper left her mouth. Brianna was certain only she had heard it. It was filled with air, light and amazing._ _

__Brianna pulled back, looking at the purple mark that was probably buzzing softly. With a cheeky grin, Brianna went back to her spot._ _

__“Aja, truth or dare?”_ _

__Aja picked dare, and ended up giving Shangela a lap dance. Brianna wasn’t paying much attention to the game anymore, though. She saw Aquaria’s finger tracing over the mark she left every few minutes, full on staring at Brianna. All she wanted to do was kiss Aquaria. Kiss her beautiful lips, wrap her legs around her waist, fingers trailing over soft skin. All she wanted to do was touch Aquaria in non-platonic ways and hear that damned whimper again._ _

__-_ _

__The sun reached into their bedroom, and Brianna knew she and Blair both had been drunk the night before. The curtains were open. They were only open at nights where both Brianna and Blair had gotten drunk._ _

__Rolling over in her bed, she threw a pillow at Blair, who groaned. “We have to get up,” Brianna pushed herself up, glancing at the clock. It was Monday. “Remind me why we got drunk again yesterday?”_ _

__“Don’t talk to me,” Blair mumbled, putting a pillow over her face. “I think I’m still drunk.” Brianna chuckled softly, longing for an Advil._ _

__“I’ll make breakfast, you can stay here if you want.” Brianna convinced herself that getting up would be worth it and got up._ _

__The Halloween party had been wild. After the game of truth and dare, Brianna, Tanya, and Shangela had played Just Dance. Katya joined as well. Blair and Vanessa had talked some more, VIxen never left Blair’s side._ _

__Brianna remembered them sitting on the couch at four in the morning, Aquaria falling asleep against her shoulder. She might have given the other girl a hickey, but Aquaria sleeping on her shoulder had been the highlight of the evening._ _

__Coffee was in the making, and Brianna put some bread in the toaster before she took some Advil, bringing the bottle and some water to Blair as well._ _

__Just as Brianna was about to shove some bread in her mouth, already feeling slightly better, her phone rang. Tanya was trying to video call her. After considering hanging up, she answered the phone._ _

__Tanya, with no eyebrows, enormous bags under her eyes, and streaks of mascara under her eyes smiled lazily at her. “Hey, I wasn’t sure if you were gonna pick up.”_ _

__“Well, I didn’t expect to be called this early,” Brianna chuckled, surprised she wasn’t more hungover. “You look like shit.”_ _

__“Ugh, don’t start!” Tanya groaned, she was walking around, closing a curtain in the kitchen. “You still look cute, though. Not too hungover?”_ _

__“Surprisingly not,” Brianna mused softly. “Blair is, though. How’s Vixen?”_ _

__“I tried to wake her,” Tanya ran a hand through her hair. “She told me she’ll fuck me up if I make too much noise,” Brianna chuckled, that did sound like Vixen. Especially when she was hungover. “So now I’m really fucking tired, late for class and calling you, which is just great because I’ll be even later now.” She rambled._ _

__“You’ll be fine,” Was all Brianna said, biting down on her toast. “Get some coffee.”_ _

__“And eyebrows,” She saw Tanya lean against the counter. “That’ll probably help as well.”_ _

__Brianna hummed, drinking from her own mug. Tanya placed her phone down, moving through the cabinets. “I already told you I’m really tired and late, so I’ll just eat coffee real quick.”_ _

__“Eat coffee?”_ _

__The girl held up a bag of coffee beans, grinning. “Tanya, no.”_ _

__“Yeah, it’ll be fine. Just a boost of energy,” she took a small spoon, digging in the bag and putting it in her mouth. As she closed it, her face went blank for a second, before she looked disgusted. “Nah-uh,” She spit the beans in probably the sink. “Not today.” She coughed._ _

__Brianna laughed. “You’re human trash.”_ _

__“True,” Tanya started moving again. “I didn’t only call for you to call me trash, though,” Tanya looked down at her screen again. “I wanted to ask if we could talk, maybe during lunch?”_ _

__Brianna’s stomach twisted, but she smiled. “Sure,” She took a long sip from her coffee. “Yeah, one o’clock?”_ _

__“Sounds like a plan,” Tanya grinned, and Brianna could hear Vixen saying something that she couldn’t understand. “Whoops, seems like I woke her up,” She grinned, finding it all rather amusing. “Gotta go!” And with that, she hung up._ _

__Blair had a hard time walking in, apparently. She was a true lightweight, feeling even a drop of alcohol and easily having the biggest hangovers._ _

__“How are you feeling?” It was obvious she felt horrible._ _

__“I’ve had better days,” Her voice was soft as she poured herself a mug of coffee. “Can I borrow your sunglasses?”_ _

__Brianna snorted, feeling bad as soon as she did so. “As if miss Del Rio will let you wear them,” She shook her head. “I wouldn’t bet on it.”_ _

__“Today I’ve decided to not give a fuck,” She sipped from her mug, sitting down opposite of Brianna._ _

__“Good for you,” Brianna got up, throwing a piece of toast on Blair’s plate._ _

__“Thanks,” she rested her head in her hands. “Who were you talking to?”_ _

__“What do you mean?”_ _

__“Just moments ago,” Blair looked up again, carefully nibbling at the toast. “You were quite loud.”_ _

__“Oh,” Brianna felt her cheeks heat up. “Tanya. She called, I’m meeting her for lunch.”_ _

__“That’s not smart. You’re both hungover,” Blair spoke softly, rubbing her eyes. “You’re in like, a love triangle.”_ _

__“That’s not true,” Brianna sighed. She might be hungover but she knew what she felt. “Tanya is fun, cute, but I don’t like her like that.”_ _

__“But you do like Aquaria?”_ _

__“We’re both too hungover for this convo,” Brianna moved to their bedroom, ruffling Blair’s hair as she passed her. “I’m bringing you my sunglasses.”_ _

__-_ _

__The thing that annoyed Brianna most about Aja was probably the fact that she never, ever answered her phone. She never texted back, and never answered her calls. Brianna had called her friend six times in the past fifteen minutes as she was hurrying through the hallways of her uni._ _

__“Sis, what the fuck?” Aja hissed. “Don’t you have better things to do than calling my ass up?”_ _

__“Thank god you answered!” Brianna sighed. “I called like fifteen times, you cunt!”_ _

__“What do you need?”_ _

__“Can you come to the café down the block? Tanya wanted to have lunch and I just need someone to save me if necessary.”_ _

__“Geez, is that all?” Aja huffed. “Fine, only if I can wear my disguise, though!”_ _

__The only right answer was no, knowing Aja she’d turn up in a bright red bodysuit and a scoot mobile. But logical thinking was something for the ones who weren’t desperate._ _

__“Yeah, that’s alright, I guess.” Aja cheered, and Brianna just knew she was already searching for stuff to put on. Brianna rolled her eyes, saying one last thing before hanging up. “Don’t be late, asshole.”_ _

__Quickly heading back to her dorm, Brianna changed into something more suited. Changing her leggings into light jeans and her over-sized sweater into a slim-fitting one. After quickly spraying on some perfume, she dashed out again. She really didn’t like being late._ _

__The cold reached her skin, even through her thick, pink coat she had wrapped around herself tightly. The wind was strong, and she could almost feel the warmth radiating from the buildings she passed. It was softly raining, so Brianna bowed her head, not wanting her makeup to smudge too much._ _

__When she pushed open the doors to the café, it was one minute after one. She didn’t spot a blob of blue hair, so she let out a relieved breath. She picked a spot near the heater, already flipping through the menu._ _

__“Hey, Brianna,” She has never heard Tanya speak so softly. She had eyebrows and mascara now, obviously trying to cover up her bags which hadn’t worked perfectly. Brianna didn’t like to admit it, but she still looked cute._ _

__“Oh, hey, take a seat! We’re next to the heater,” Brianna pushed the chair backward with her foot a little, which looked weird and definitely was something she wouldn’t have done without the sudden burst of anxiety and nervousness._ _

__Tanya chuckled, sitting down and placing her backpack down. “How are you?”_ _

__Brianna wasn’t feeling the small talk part, and before she could answer, she saw Aja. Obviously letting her come in a disguise had been a mistake. She was wearing a bright yellow sweater and red pants that matched her sunglasses. She was standing on a Segway, her face blank. Of course, she didn't walk. Brianna could live with the ugly clothes, but the Segway, really?_ _

__“Is that Aja?” Tanya asked, turning to the laughter._ _

__“Stop filming me, hoe’s!” Aja called, rolling back. “Hey, Bri! Didn’t know you were here.” She winked. She fucking winked._ _

__“Unfortunately, yes.” Brianna sighed, shaking her head. “God, you really can’t let her go anywhere without causing a scene.”_ _

__Tanya chuckled. “I think it’s cute, I like her.”_ _

__“Anyway, I’m going to go with the salad. What about you?” Brianna quickly muttered, not wanting to talk about Aja any longer._ _

__After they ordered and had received their food, silence fell over the girls. Brianna was too scared to start a conversation, and Tanya seemed to not want the awkward situation to end._ _

__“So,” Brianna cleared her throat, taking a sip from her water. “What did you wanna talk about?”_ _

__“Oh, right!” Tanya chuckled. “I almost forgot,” She paused, her eyes seeming to burn holes in Brianna’s soul. “You don’t like me. I mean, that sounds bad, but you don’t like-like me, do you?”_ _

__Brianna bit her lip. She didn’t. Maybe she should, but she really didn’t. Tanya was amazing, that’s what she had been trying to tell herself since their date. But she wasn’t Aquaria. And she was in love with Aquaria. Well, she liked Aquaria, a lot._ _

__“Don’t worry, it’s alright,” Tanya took a long sip from her coke. “You like Aquaria. It’s kinda obvious. I just wanted to apologize for the party, I was kinda being an asshole even though you probably don’t really remember. So yeah, I guess that’s all.”_ _

__“You’re not…” Brianna didn’t know what she expected. Somewhere she wanted Tanya to be sad, disappointed that she couldn’t have Brianna._ _

__“... Sad?” Tanya finished. “I was a little disappointed, but I’m over it.” She shrugged, taking another bite of her salad. “The only thing I’m sad about is that you’re a fish.” She pointed to her glass of water._ _

__“I’m just healthy,” Brianna said, a huge weight lifted off her shoulders. “I can’t believe you don’t know that not only fish live in water. I’m obviously a dolphin.”_ _

__“You wish,” Tanya scoffed, looking outside. It was raining harder, but they didn’t mind. It was cozy inside the café. “You’re like two inches tall, you’re hardly more than a molecule.”_ _

__“I feel much better now, thanks,” Brianna rolled her eyes. “Asshole.”_ _

__It was easy, falling into a conversation with Tanya. She was nice, and even though things hadn’t worked out as planned, she was the same girl she hung out with at the aquarium._ _

__She even went as far as making a six-step plan to ‘conquer Aquaria’. It was completely silly and stupid, and the girls laughed harder than they had in days. Being just friends was the right decision._ _

__They almost forgot about the time, nearly being late for class again._ _

__“Being late is like, my only talent,” Tanya had said, gathering her things, hugging Brianna goodbye. “Gotta change that. Not today, though.” She calmly walked off, sipping her complicated frappuccino._ _

__Brianna had to be on the other side of campus, she was thrilled to be right on time. She shared the class with Adore, who smelled like pot. She admitted that she couldn’t come to class with a hangover if she wasn’t stoned. She wasn’t sure how that helped._ _

__The day could’ve been way worse, she realized. Her hair might not be the best because of the rain, and her head might hurt, but it was still an okay day._ _

__That okay day soon turned into a great day when Aquaria texted her._ _

__(Aquaria): Hey, so I know you have no classes tomorrow afternoon, and my teacher got sick. Want to come over?_ _

__Brianna’s heart skipped multiple beats. She’d never been to Aquaria’s dorm but was more than excited to get a peek into her life. She knew she didn’t know much about Aquaria, but she was determined to change that._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come talk to me at tumblr @tropicaldepressionkatya :)


	8. Chapter eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I'm literally the worst with uploading but :/ Editing just takes me 521575541 years, it's so boring and hard  
> I hope you like this! You can follow me on tumblr @tropicaldepressionkatya  
> This chaper is a bit longer, a lot will happen so buckle up!

Why the fuck was she so nervous? It was just Aquaria. Just Aquaria. That was an understatement. Brianna had never felt like that. It had never been just Aquaria it had always been _Aquaria_. Perfect and mysterious. Her smile so bright and warm, always reaching her eyes. 

She blamed the nervous shifting of her weight on the fact that she had never been to Aquaria’s dorm before. And the fact that she had written down questions, learned them by heart and was determined to ask at least half of them. Brianna blamed the nerves she'd undoubtedly have the moment she saw Aquaria, her lips soft pink or red, eyes shining as if the moon was reflected in them. 

Brianna didn’t know who Aquaria’s roommate was, but when the door opened she saw Kameron. She hadn’t seen or heard about Kameron since they went to the club. She should have guessed. Or at least asked. 

“Brianna, right?” Kameron gave her a bright smile. “I’m Kameron, we met in September.” 

“I remember,” Brianna forced a smile on her lips. “Is Aquaria here?” 

“Oh, yeah,” Kameron let her in. The dorm looked just like hers, but it felt less like a home. There were no pictures on the wall, no random things hanging around. “She’s in the bedroom.” 

“Thanks.” 

“Nice seeing you again,” Kameron said as Brianna sped off to the bedroom. 

She knocked on the door, walking in because she knew not to expect an answer. Aquaria was laying in her bed in nothing but a large sweater, scrolling on her phone. She looked like she belonged in spring. 

“How the fuck are you not cold?” Aquaria looked up, smiling at Brianna, pushing herself up. Brianna got a quick look at the room. Kameron’s side was messy, pictures of her family hung across the wall, clothing on the bed and some weights on the floor. Aquaria’s side was empty. There was nothing on the bedside table except for a basic while lamp and her charger. The only thing on her wall was a picture of the sea. She probably took it herself.

Aquaria patted the spot next to her. She had pushed herself up, leaning against the wall. Brianna let herself fall on the bed as well, the blue sheets soft. 

Her knee brushed against Aquaria’s skin, which felt surprisingly hot. It was nearly freezing outside, but Aquaria felt as if she had been in an egg boiler for a few hours. “You’re hot,” Brianna gasped, at which Aquaria raised her eyebrows. “I meant literally.” 

She placed a hand on Aquaria’s leg. “I mean, also figuratively speaking, don’t worry.” 

Aquaria laughed, Brianna’s hand didn’t leave her leg. She looked fragile, laughing her soft laugh, soft, as if she could break just because a gust of wind blew too hard. But at the same time she felt strong, as if she had been through more than Brianna could even imagine. 

_You’re looking at me weirdly._

The paper that was shoved in her face was light pink and smelled like Aquaria’s perfume. 

“Sorry, zoned out, I guess.” Silence settles over the girls. It was easy, since Brianna didn’t know what to say for a hot minute and Aquaria couldn’t say anything. She wondered if Kameron was still in the kitchen. 

“I realized I know next to nothing about you,” Brianna began, looking at the orange carpet at Kameron’s side of the room, which was a choice. “And I like hanging out with you so I wanted to ask you some questions.” 

Aquaria nodded enthusiastically, her lips curving into a smile. She looked like a child who just received some candy. 

“Okay,” Brianna laughed. “What’s your favorite color?” 

_Digging deep?_ Aquaria grinned after she wrote that down. _Red. And blue._

“Oh, charming,” Brianna read the words, planning on not forgetting them. “Obviously mine is any shade of pink. Purple is also pretty.” 

The smile never seemed to leave Aquaria’s face. “Next question!” Brianna forced herself to look away. She focused on Aquaria’s rings. There were so many on her slender fingers. “Who was the lady in your house?” 

Aquaria bit her lip, twirling the rings around. “You don’t have to tell me,” Brianna began, but Aquaria began writing. 

_A friend of my aunt. My aunt raised me but she died a few years ago. I don’t think she likes me a lot, but I like it there. The house, the beach._

Brianna didn’t quite know what to say. She wanted to ask about her mom, but that didn’t seem like a good idea. So, she swallowed back the question, rubbing soothing circles over Aquaria’s thigh with her thumb. A long moment of silence settled above them, a certain tension keeping Brianna’s mouth closed. 

_What about your mom? Going home for thanksgiving?_

Brianna hadn’t even seen Aquaria wrote anything. “My mom is great. We’re not that close, though. I was always a distant child, probably a disappointment as well,” She chuckled, it didn’t hold any humor. “I was the strange kid. Always reading, writing. I guess she wanted a party girl. The typical kind. When I graduated she changed, though. It was nice. But I’m not sure I trust her.” 

Talk about oversharing. Brianna hated that she just couldn’t shut up. Once she began talking, she had to explain everything. She just wanted to make sure Aquaria understood her. She wanted Aquaria to know her, she realized. Just like she wanted to know Aquaria.

The look Aquaria gave her only made it worse. Pity. 

So, Brianna cleared her throat. “Next up! Shower or bath?” 

_Bath, definitely._

“Hmm,” Brianna hummed. “You look like that kinda girl, yeah.” Brianna finally lifted her hand from Aquaria’s thigh when she stretched her legs. From her ankles up to her knees, they were decorated with bruises. Purple, blue, green. “What happened?” 

Aquaria reached for her paper. _Accidents while swimming, happens a lot._

Brianna couldn’t shake the feeling it was only partly true, seeing as Aquaria was playing with the pen. She never did anything like that. 

“Oh, okay,” Brianna smiled, deciding to ignore the signs. “I have a few more questions, they’ll only be harder,” Brianna grinned. “First girlfriend?” 

She laughed, shaking her head. She but her lip as she began writing. Brianna wanted to grab her hand, intertwine their fingers and say the past didn’t matter, as long as she liked Brianna. 

But Brianna never thought of herself as brave. 

_I was fifteen, her name was Aurelie. She was french. She had a nice smile and was older so she bought me alcohol._

Brianna chuckled. “Sounds like the dream,” She thought about what she should tell. “My first girlfriend was a girl named Tatianna. She was nice until she became a cunt. At least, to me. To others she was still nice but it just didn’t work out.” Brianna chuckled. “We still hooked up a few times, though.” 

Aquaria smiled, rolling her eyes, nudging Brianna’a shoulder. _Whore._ She wrote. There was a twinkle in her eyes, and is she had been able to say it out loud, Brianna knew she could hear the humor in her voice. 

Her voice. She would do a lot to hear her talk. “Thanks.” Brianna scoffed, teasing, her foot jerking to lightly kick Aquaria's calve.

Aquaria got up, holding up a finger. Brianna guessed she would be right back. And she was. She was carrying a pint of ice cream. Chocolate mint. 

“Nice,” Brianna said, Aquaria sitting a little closer than before. “Hey, this is kinda… sensitive, but I read once that there can be different reasons people don’t speak. Physically or emotionally, I was just-“ 

Aquaria held up one finger. “Physically?” She nodded. “Sorry, I just had to ask.” Aquaria smiled, digging into the pint, Brianna following her lead. 

Falling into a conversation with Aquaria turned out to be a lot easier than Brianna had thought. Even though she struggled to write fast enough to have a flowing conversation and her answers were sometimes a little weird, Brianna loved every second of it. 

She loved how Aquaria had tried to help Brianna removing the ice cream from her forehead. She loved how Aquaria had laughed, shaken her head and impulsively kissed her cheek. It felt a little too perfect. 

Brianna was happy she went. She knew a lot more about Aquaria. She asked about her favorite book, which turned out to be The Little Prince. Her favorite animal was a dolphin, which was just too cute to Brianna. 

Even though her need to be with Aquaria wasn’t as strong as in the beginning, where being away from her felt… disoriented to say at least, now there was just a longing to be with her. Even at that very moment, as she was sitting next her, Brianna wanted to be closer. 

“I just have one more question,” Brianna said softly after she checked the time. She was going out for dinner with Vixen and Aja later. Besides, she had to ask this. She couldn’t take it anymore. She had to know of Aquaria felt the same. “Do you like me?” 

_Of course._ The longer they’d been having a conversation, the messier Aquaria’s handwriting got. Brianna still liked it. 

“I mean-“ She took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a second and pushing every feeling away, tucking it safely in the back of her mind and hoping her voice wouldn’t carry any of those. “ _Like_ like, I guess.” 

_Yeah, I know._

Aquaria gave Brianna a shy smile, and for a moment, neither of them knew what to do. Brianna’s heart was beating fast, too fast. Her eyes couldn’t believe the word written on the paper. And when she was sure her eyes weren’t kidding her, she smiled. 

“Are you serious?” Aquaria seemed to think her reaction was funny. She laughed, no sound leaving, of course. And reached for her hand, nodding her head. “Oh, well, I didn’t expect that.” 

_Aren’t you supposed to kiss me or anything now?_

“I don’t even have to take you out for dinner?” Brianna laughed as Aquaria scooted closer. 

_We can do that later._

With her hand back on Aquaria’s leg, Brianna leaned closer. Aquaria did, too. It was a better feeling than anything else, Aquaria’s lips against hers. 

It was a soft kiss, one that made her want to do hundreds of backflips. The kiss made her head spin and if Aquaria hadn’t been holding her shoulder, she was sure she’d be floating. 

The kiss couldn’t have lasted longer than a long moment, but Brianna couldn’t stop smiling when they pulled back. She felt happy, great, amazing. 

“Wow,” She whispered, at which Aquaria giggled. Time seemed to slow down. The taller blonde kissed Brianna’s cheek, pointing to her phone, showing off the time. “Right.” It was easy to lose her thoughts. “Uhm, I’ll see you later, I’ll text, okay?” Brianna’s head was still spinning and she hadn’t smiled like that in a while. 

She leaned in for a quick kiss to Aquaria’s cheek, which ended up on her mouth as she hurried off. She was floating, didn’t mind Kameron trying to talk to her. She said bye, gave her a laugh and left. 

Floating. That’s what Brianna was. She was floating through the empty hallway, most classes having ended half an hour ago. Her lips were tingling, the nice kind. 

She bumped into Blair near their dorm. “You look awfully happy,” Blair smiled. “Had a good afternoon?”

“The best, damn it,” Brianna was still smiling, probably grinning. “Where are you going?” 

“For a walk,” She looked like she was. Her purple sweater tucked into her skirt. “With Vixen.” She added. Of course. 

“Aren’t you going to be cold?” 

“I’ll be fine, Vixen is with me,” 

Brianna laughed at that. “Is she gonna be back in time for dinner? Nevermind, she’s never late,” Pause. “Anyway, I have to get ready for dinner, have fun!” Brianna dashed passed the girl who was obviously stunned at her tone. 

“What happened to you?” She heard Blair say behind her, but Brianna didn’t answer. She was so happy. 

After reading a few pages in her book, Brianna decided to get ready. They weren’t going somewhere extremely fancy, but it was chic enough to make Brianna steal one of Blair’s dresses and dig through her closet to find her long pink coat that made her look even shorter. But that seemed such a small problem; she felt so big. Aquaria’s smile still burned in her brain, the smile making her face so bright she felt like the sun. 

After she had applied foundation, her phone buzzes. Tanya tried to FaceTime her. At any other time she might have ignored it, but Brianna was happy and they had agreed to staying friends. 

“Girl, hey!” Brianna said, placing her phone in a way so that Tanya could see her. 

“Seriously? You’re also getting ready? With who can I talk now?” Tanya groaned. 

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Brianna grinned. “You can talk to me if you can deal with seeing me like this.” 

“You’re so happy today,” Tanya hummed. “Did you eat something funky? Mushrooms?” 

“Funny,” Brianna chuckled. “Nope, just had a splendid day.” 

“Who the fuck uses splendid? You must be high, Shakespeare.” Tanya was laying down on her bed, her blue hair sprayed out above her. Brianna caught a glimpse of her black glasses and a purple lamp. 

“I mean, high on-“ Aquaria. She wanted to say Aquaria, but that would have been weird. “Happiness.” 

“Did you finally get laid?” Tanya squinted her eyes, laughing when Brianna didn’t answer. “You did! Tell me!” 

“I didn’t get laid’,” Brianna chuckled. “I just kissed Aquaria.” 

“Oh, are you official or…” Tanya trailed off. 

“No,” Brianna winged her eyeliner. It wasn’t the best but not the worse. “We just kissed, I guess I have to ask her out on a proper date.” 

“You could take her to see a scary movie, have her close to you,” Tanya wiggled her eyebrows. “Like Halloween.” 

“Could be fun!” No way she was doing that. “Maybe we could go on a double date with Trixie and Katya, haven’t had much time to spend with them.” 

It wasn’t a secret Brianna admired Trixie. Trixie was everything Brianna had ever wanted to be and more. She was talented, had the voice of an angel, an amazing body and great hair. Brianna never really noticed how similar they were until Katya had pointed it out. Not without clarifying that Trixie was her favorite. 

And now they were friends. Even though Monét was gone, she had Trixie. And Aja. And Blair. And Vixen. And now Aquaria and Tanya. 

Thinking about Monét made her sad, since she moved away, doing what she loved. They didn’t talk very much, which was something Brianna regretted every day. They had texted a little near Halloween and Monét was coming over to her house for Thanksgiving, though. Maybe she could stick around during Christmas and new year. She hoped so. 

“Did you hear anything I just said?” Tanya said, laughing at the look Brianna gave her. “I’ll take that as a no.” 

“Sorry,” Brianna applied some lipstick. “Zoned out again.” 

“Again,” Tanya scoffed. “You say it like you can’t even form three sentences.” 

“We all know I can,” Brianna shook her hair, her curls still kinda pretty. “But I really need to get dressed now. Was I enough fun for you?” 

“It was okay,” Tanya grinned. “Have fun, don’t eat too much.” 

-

After what seemed like hours, the cold had finally left Brianna’s body. Apparently, Aja and Vixen could handle any temperature, skipping around in their neat clothes while it could have been snowing, not even complaining about the cold. But Brianna did for the three of them. How could she not, with the cold settling in her bones. Vixen ended up taking her hand, and Aja tried jumped on her back, claiming that it would warm her up. 

The restaurant was quite nice, not too fancy for them to laugh out loud, but they did dress accordingly. They were welcomed with warmth, but Brianna kept her coat on for at least ten more minutes. 

After they had ordered, Vixen was grinning at Aja, taking a sip of their water. “Aja, do you have anything to tell us?” 

Aja raised a questioning eyebrow, as did Brianna. “Your girlfriend! Don’t deny it, you cunt! I sleep in the dorm next to you, I had to listen to Tanya’s crappy music because y’all were being so loud.” 

Brianna couldn’t remember when she had seen Aja blush for the last time, but now she did. “Sis, I ain’t got no time for relationships!” 

“Then who’s the girl?” Brianna leaned closer, extremely interested in the drama of anyone else. “We deserve to know, damn it!” 

“We’ve just hooked up more than three times,” Aja tried to shrug as if she didn’t care too much. “But she is kinda pretty. Dark hair, tan, even though it’s cold. She even looks pretty after sex, like, her mouth would be-“ 

“Oh, god!” Vixen called. “Don’t finish that sentence!” 

Aja laughed, and Brianna joined them. “Come on, What’s her name?” 

“I’m not telling! We’re not ‘an item’, or whatever. Maybe I’ll bring her with me to Thanksgiving dinner if we’ve talked about, ya know, a possible us.” 

Brianna hummed softly, grinning. “Well, if you two become an item, we should go on a double date!” 

“Do you mean you and Tanya or you and Aquaria?” Vixen said. “Because honestly, Tanya can’t shut up about you, even after your lunch, and we all know what you think about Aquaria.” 

“I _did not_ deserve this,” Brianna pretended to be offended, shocked, but couldn’t stop her smile. “But I meant Aquaria.” 

“Sis, what’s going on with you two?” Aja ran a hand through her hair. “Like what even-” 

“We kissed,” Brianna stopped her. “I said I liked her, she said she liked me back, we’ll be going out soon. That’s all.” 

“Damn,” Vixen said. “This all happened today? No wonder you were happy.” 

“No need to be sad about the lack of your love life,” Aja reached for Vixen’s hand, playfully trying to grab it. Vixen pulled her hand back, grabbing one of the menus and slapping Aja’s hand. “Auw!” 

“I’m not sad, I don’t need constant validation like you all need.” Aja opened her mouth, but the waiter arrived with their food, and the conversation was cut short. 

Focussing on their food, the three friends made simple small-talk, laughing at the occasional joke or person. It was fun, Brianna thought. She had been spending too little time with her friends lately, since her focus had been on Aquaria. But now, it didn’t have to be like that anymore. Because Aquaria liked her back. 

“Looks like I have to go,” Aja wiped her hands clean, looking up from her phone. “I’m gonna have sex.” 

“Too much detail,” Vixen said, frowning. “You’re leaving us for a booty call?” 

“I wouldn’t put it like that,” Aja shrugged, getting up. “But if that’s what you want to call it, sure.” 

“Wow you’re an amazing friend,” Brianna playfully rolled her eyes. “Vixen, wanna watch a movie?” 

“Only if it’s Burlesque.” Vixen grinned, knowing Brianna couldn’t refuse that. So, they paid for dinner, Vixen’s arm wrapped around Brianna as they walked. It wasn’t weird, walking like that. It was warm and safe for both of them. 

“Wanna grab some snacks?” Vixen asked, pointing to the night store. Brianna craved something salty. And some alcohol. 

They scanned the over-priced store, looking for some chips and soft candy. They also bought a bottle of passoa, and went back to Vixen’s dorm. 

Vixen cursed when she opened the door, the smell of weed rolling from the room. Tanya was sitting there, smoking next to the window. “You’re back early.” Her eyes shot up, red, worried. 

“You’re smoking pot,” Vixen snapped. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Tanya?” 

“Adore gave it to me,” She said, leaning back in the chair. “Because I was stressed.” 

“Just because Adore gave it doesn’t mean you should smoke it!” Vixen hung her coat up, going into her bedroom to grab something more comfortable. 

“Adore gave me what?” 

“Weed!” Vixen yelled. She returned with an extra sweater, throwing iton the couch as she sprinted to Tanya. Brianna just watched, amuzed. It was quite funny, Vixen getting annoyed. 

Vixen grabbed the joint, which was almost done and threw it out the window. “If you wanna smoke so bad, do it outside, you cunt!” Tanya pouted, but laughed shortly after. 

“Your nose is funny,” Tanya flicked Vixen’s nose. “It’s cute.” She didn’t have a single worry in the world. 

Vixen’s eyes got soft for a brief moment. “Go the fuck to bed, Tanya. Don’t tell me you’ve been drinking.” 

“Only water because I want weed to grow in me,” Tanya chuckled. “Do you smoke weed, Brianna? It’s not that bad, right?” 

Brianna, who had been ignored until that moment, didn’t know what to say. Sure, she had smoked some pot with Monét, a lot more with Pearl. But it wasn’t her thing. “Not really,” She shrugged. “Alcohol is better.” She held up the bottle, and Tanya lazily snapped her fingers. 

“You’re so relatable. We should make you a meme.” 

“Not today,” Vixen said, pulling Tanya up from her chair. “Go to bed, Tanya. Sleep.” 

“You ain’t my mama,” Tanya giggled, but she did go to their bedroom. 

Vixen sighed. “I have to live with her, please kill me.” 

Brianna chuckled, slipping the sweater on over her dress. “I mean you’re friends with me and Blair, your life was easy up until this point.”

“Blair is easy, you’re not,” Vixen say down, the television playing. “That sounded sexual, didn’t mean it.” 

“Yeah, sure,” Brianna scoffed. “Tell yourself that.” 

-

“Okay, so who’s coming?” Brianna asked from where she was sitting in the couch, cuddled up in a big sweater, her hair damp but slowly drying in the warmth of their dorm. 

Blair was sitting next to Vixen, giggling and telling her she needed to finish the damn list as Vixen did nothing but distracting her. 

“Stop it,” Blair giggled. “If we don’t finish the list now it’ll never happen.” Vixen groaned, saying something about it being so boring. 

“Great, I love being ignored!” Brianna said, a little louder this time. 

“Get your ass over here, then!” Vixen yelled back, even though they weren’t that far away. “We’re doing all the work.” 

“Seems like you’re keeping Blair from doing all the work, yeah,” Brianna huffed, and Blair laughed. Brianna moved to the table. She wasn’t even that interested, knowing that there’d be a new groupschat tonight. “Anyway, who’s coming to annoy our asses?” 

“Well, obviously us three,” Blair tucked a strand of pretty hair behind her ear. “Vanessa, I guess, Aja, Trixie and Katya,” She continued. “Adore is coming as well do you want to ask Aquaria?” 

Brianna nodded her head, smiling softly. “Yeah, I’ll ask tonight,” Tonight they were going on their first official date, even though Brianna had lacked originality to do anything too special. They were going to stroll down the Christmas market that was already set up, even though thanksgiving was still two weeks away. “What about Tanya?” 

“We wanted to keep it just close friends,” Blair shrugged, biting her lip. “I can add her, if you want to, I’m sure we’ll-“ 

“It’s fine,” Brianna shrugged. “I just figured Vixen might have asked to invite her.” 

Vixen shook her head. “She’s doing stuff. She told me some of we friends are coming over near Thanksgiving.” 

“Are we still holding it in our dorm?” 

“Probably,” Blair shrugged. “Vixen is on the groupschat.” 

“I am,” Vixen said. “But shouldn’t you be getting ready for your date?” 

“God, if you don't want me here, just say so!” Brianna rolled her yes, playful with a grin, sticking her tongue out at the girls. 

-

When Brianna was pacing in front of her school, she really could use a cigarette. Even though she hadn’t smoked since high school, she remembered how it calmed her down. She hadn’t been this stressed in a long time. 

Aquaria was late. Fifteen minutes and thirty eight seconds. Thirty nine seconds. Forthy seconds. Every second seemed to pass slower. With every passing second, Brianna’s heart cracked a little more. 

That was, until Aquaria stumbled out, looking adorable, beautiful, breathtaking. She had up a piece of paper, her writing hurried, nearly unreadable. 

_I’m so, so sorry! Kameron hurt herself in the gym, I drove her to the hospital and back._

That explained why she was just dressed in a sweater, jeans and some yellow heels that didn’t necessarily match her orange sweater. But Brianna still thought she looked gorgeous. 

Brianna let a relieved breath escape her lips. “It’s okay, is she okay?” 

Aquaria switched to typing, since writing and walking was quite hard. 

_Yes, she was a little dramatic. Can’t go to the gym for a few weeks._

Brianna hummed. She knew Kameron loved going to the gym. “So she’s gonna annoy you for those weeks?” 

Aquaria seemed to laugh, even though most of her face was covered by her curls. Brianna did see her nod, and when she turned her head she saw her stunning smile and ocean-like eyes. She wondered what those eyes would tell her, if they could talk. 

“I remember when Vanessa was sick at home for like, two weeks. Blair was so annoying with her worried voice. I had to convince her not to go to Vanessa every. Single. Hour. So if you need a place to chill, we’re already some sort of house for the pathetic. You’re more than welcome to join.” 

Aquaria smiled, tying a quick message. 

_w, you’re so kind._

“Some people can learn,” Brianna hummed as they reached the smoothie place. She hadn’t been there in what felt like months, even though it was just weeks. Suddenly, she craved something. “Wanna go grab a drink?” 

Aquaria nodded, so, Brianna, being a sweet and attentive lady, pushed the doors open for her date. She’d never get used to that. Date. _Aquaria_ was her actual date. 

“I’ve been thinking,” Brianna began as they were standing in the short line. “You told me to get something different, so you can pick my order.” 

Aquaria seemed to think for a moment, her eyes scanning the bright board above the counter. The bright pink, blue and yellow lights shone down on Aquaria, decorating her skin, her features popping even more. She was so beautiful. Her hair seemed to have a neon halo, the kind movie stars had in the big cities. Aquaria was prettier than them, though. 

_banana kiwi smoothie._ It was nothing like Brianna would have ordered for herself. But she smiled, willing to try it. 

“Go ahead,” Aquaria quickly wrote down her and Brianna’s order, showing it to the barista. As Brianna moved closer to pay, Aquaria shook her head, gently pushing the girl away. 

_Today, I’ll pay._

Brianna didn’t fight it. 

Only a few minutes later, the girls were drinking their smoothies, Aquaria’s was a bright pink, one that slightly stained her lips. Their knees were touching under the table, and Aquaria was playing with her rings. 

Brianna was happily chatting, trying to include Aquaria wherever she could. The conversation wasn’t as smooth as over text, but Brianna would pick this over any conversation they had ever had over the phone. 

Not knowing when, Aquaria had grabbed Brianna’s hand, playing with her fingers instead of her own rings. Both of the girls were blushing, but Brianna was still quietly talking. Honestly, she was talking about everything and nothing. Spilling her secrets one moment and talking about how balloons were so weird the next. They were both content. 

Because of their little stop, it was later than Brianna had planned when the reached the market. But it was more beautiful. The sky was dark, not even stars shining that night. But the market was well lit with beautiful fairy lights and candles on the stands. 

Together, the pair walked next to the stalls, looking at all the pretty things, even though they found each other much more interesting. The small glances became longer and more obvious. Every time they got caught, they blushed, looking away. They acted like teenagers, not far off of their teen years, after all. 

The main attraction of the market, and the reason it was already built up, was the ice rink. It was quite grande, a tree at the centre, decorated by lights and big flowers. It was a more modern take on Christmas decorations, and Brianna loved it. 

She liked ice skating, she considered herself pretty good at it. If she hadn’t been sure she wouldn’t make a fool out of herself, Brianna didn’t think she’d suggested to go in at all. 

“Do you wanna give it a try?” 

Aquaria shook her head, biting her lip. 

“Why not?” Brianna laughed. “You can’t skate?” 

Again, she shook her head. So, Brianna took Aquaria’s hand. She had seen enough movies to know this was going to end in a kiss. “I can teach you, you won’t fall.” 

Aquaria held out her pinky, mouthing a word. Brianna assumed it was ‘promise’. 

“Promise,” Brianna said, locking their pinkies. Hand in hand, the girls moved along to hire skates. 

Brianna didn’t want to laugh in Aquaria’s face when she had trouble getting her skates on, but it was damn hard. She tried, and tried, but nothing seemed to work. 

“Is there anything you can do?” Brianna teased with a small smile. “You’re lucky you’re here with me.” 

Aquaria nodded at that.

She _nodded._

Brianna’s heart exploded. 

“All set,” She held out a hand for Aquaria, who wobbled behind Brianna. The two girls safely made it to the ice, but as soon as Aquaria set one foot on the ice, she began slipping, nearly falling. “You weren’t kidding, huh?” Brianna grabbed her hand tighter, pulling her against her own body, helping her to the edge. 

Aquaria grabbed the border, holding on for dear life, feet slipping from under her body. Brianna chuckled, her hands resting on Aquaria’s waist. “You good?” 

Aquaria nodded, carefully letting one hand go, slipping it into Brianna’s. “Do you want to move?” Aquaria nodded, and slowly, they moved. It went better than Brianna’s first time, mostly because Brianna was holding her hand and Aquaria was also clutching to edge of the rink. 

“Did you know I can actually skate pretty good?” It felt a little like bragging, but Aquaria glanced her way with interest before focussing back on not falling. “Yeah, I never followed classes, but I went to the rink with friends quite a lot,” Brianna could talk for hours to Aquaria. 

Until Aquaria slipped. But, Brianna had promised her to not let her fall. Brianna grabbed Aquaria’s arms, pushing her back to the edge. They were both chuckling once Aquaria regained her balance. 

“Something is telling me you really are bad at this,” Brianna smiled, feeling Aquaria’s breath against her face. They were so close. “Not that I’m complaining.” 

Aquaria raised an eyebrow, looking ever so perfectly beautiful. “You know, so I can do this.” Brianna leaned in, and Aquaria did, too. 

Their kiss was just as amazing and warm and enchanting as the first one. Brianna couldn’t breathe, in the best way possible, obviously. Aquaria grabbed her waist, pulling her closer as Brianna grabbed the border with one hand, the other moving to Aquaria’s hair. Her hair was so soft. Her lips so pink and smooth. Everything was perfect. Everything was perfect about Aquaria. 

“I meant to ask you,” Brianna breathed out when they parted, her head almost resting on Aquaria’s shoulder. “Do you want to come to our little Thanksgiving party? It’s annual, I would like to take you as my date.”


	9. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE  
> I mean i'm not dead and here's a new chapter! hope ya like it

The moment after Brianna had dragged the last table into the room and pushed it against the others, a dramatic knock echoed through the room, and all Brianna could think of was Vanessa or Aja. 

“Can you please get that,” Blair whispered. “If it’s Vanessa I wouldn’t know what to do.” 

“Of course,” Brianna understood her friend, and she’d be lying if she claimed to be comfortable with inviting her closest friend’s ex. But they’d been friends for so long, and secretly, Brianna hoped they’d end up talking about whatever had happened. She moved to the door, opening it just enough to see Vanessa. She did… something, hoping her friend would catch it. Blair rushed into their room. “Vanessa.” 

“Hey,” As soon as she noticed she was the first one, she seemed to tense up. “Uh, I brought some candles. I honestly didn’t know what to bring, so I brought these bitches.” 

“Great, you can light them while I finish the desserts-“

“Is Blair here?” 

Brianna pursed her lips, not knowing what she should say. “Yeah,” She decided. “I’m pretty sure she doesn’t want to see you, though.” 

“That’s okay,” Vanessa whispered. “I’m ready to talk when she is. I fucked up, so I can wait.” 

“You should,” Brianna was still uncertain of Vanessa, but she felt for both of them. 

“I really love her, and I don’t think I’ll ever be-“ 

“Tell her that,” Brianna stopped her. “You should save that for her.” 

Vanessa gave her a sad smile before changing her posture, smiling as she turned to the table. “There’s no tablecloth.” 

“You can put it on, it’s over the chairs,” Brianna answered from the kitchen. The kitchen was warmer than any other place, mostly because the pots were boiling and the turkey was in the oven. She quickly stirred the few pots before moving on to finishing the cocktails. Fuck serving champagne. They were young and simply wanted to get drunk despite the fact they were going to eat turkey and Chinese. 

Brianna was wearing a white skirt and a thin sweater. She was planning on wearing pink heels, but had discarded them a while ago, moving around on pink fluffy socks instead. 

The others were late, and after around five minutes, Vanessa came into the kitchen, leaning against the counter and taking a cocktail. 

“Turkey and Chinese, huh?” 

“Yes,” Brianna smiled. “Trixie and Katya are bringing the Chinese, Vixen brings the wine and Aja brings some other alcohol, I suppose.” 

“Fancy,” Vanessa chuckled. Due to circumstances, Brianna felt awkward, as if by acting too close to Vanessa, she’d betray Blair. As if by feeling too comfortable, she was a fake friend. 

Luckily for probably both of them, they heard the door open. “Anyone here?” 

“Coming!” Brianna recognized Trixie’s voice, could almost imagine her in her tight red dress. She couldn’t wait to see Katya thirsting over her all night.

Rushing to the living area with two drinks in her hand, she greeted her new guests. She was surprised to see that Trixie wasn’t wearing the red dress she’d been gushing over but a dark pink one. 

“Explain,” Brianna gave them the drinks, pointing vaguely at Trixie’s dress. “What happened to the red one?” 

The couple just grinned. “Well, Katya likes it a lot. The red one.” Was all Trixie said. Katya didn’t even bother doing anything but grinning, and maybe Brianna should be grateful. 

“Okay,” She slowly said, trying to not read too much in how the girls looked at each other. “Well, everyone is late but you can sit, if you want to.” 

Brianna didn’t really have much to do, but she kept herself busy doing nothing. She stirred some more in the pots, tasted the cocktails and made a few new ones, checked the alcohol in the fridge again, blew out some candles to light others... It would’ve been easier if she knew why she was nervous. 

“You’re… acting strange,” Blair whispered softly from behind her. She looked exactly the same as before, just more cautious. 

“I’m not the one avoiding someone,” Before she could really think about it, she said it. “Right, that was insensitive, sorry.” 

“It’s fine,” Blair looked over her shoulder. “Vanessa keeps looking at me. I don’t know…” 

“Do you want to talk to her?” Brianna carefully asked, glad there was something she really could do. “Possibly make up?” 

“I mean, I guess,” Blair leaned against the wall, sighing rather dramatically. “I miss her. I’m not sure I can forgive her.” 

Brianna understood. She’d been there, but she could only guess the feelings that were raging through her sweeter friend’s mind. “You don’t need to know. You can try, but that’s it.” 

With a slightly sad smile, Blair nodded, sadness crossing her face for just a moment. “So, is there anything you need to do?” 

-

Aquaria arrived half an hour late, but Vixen and Aja hadn’t arrived yet, so Brianna couldn’t even be annoyed. Not that she would be. Not with Aquaria. 

“Hey,” She whispered, not knowing if she should hug or kiss Aquaria. She settled for the safer option, wrapping her in a hug. “Can you believe I missed you?” She didn’t mean to say it, it felt like a secret that could shatter everything she’d worked for. But Aquaria just smiled, leaning in to kiss her cheek. 

Now that both the girls were a blushing mess, Brianna laced her fingers through Aquaria’s, gently tugging her to the larger table. “Do you want a drink? I’ll get you one,” 

Aquaria followed her, her smile and eyes never leaving her. As soon as Brianna let go of Aquaria’s hand - simply because she thought that was what Aquaria wanted - the other girl reached for it again. 

Before Brianna really knew it, they were in the safe and slightly more private kitchen with Aquaria pushing her against the counter. She had her hips pressed to Brianna, towering over her in her high heels. As intimidated as Brianna was, she felt her knees go soft, shaking ever so slightly as she gripped for the wooden counter. “Aquaria-“ 

The younger girl had her lips pressed against Brianna’s, her hands buried in her soft curls. Aquaria smelt the food smell that was laced in her hair, she smelt the tropical body lotion and her fruity perfume. 

Brianna, on the other hand, felt like melting and driving away under Aquaria’s touch. Her hands were soft and her body was firm. She was certain that was the only thing keeping her up. Aquaria’s lips were soft, her lipstick didn’t even taste bad, but had a slight fragrance. Before she knew it, she was getting dizzy, needing more oxygen than she was receiving. Yet passing out didn’t even seem like the worst thing that could happen. 

The long kiss was broken, but Brianna couldn’t help but go in for another soft kiss. And another. Her eyes fluttered open, but seeing Aquaria’s little smile and her smudged pink lipstick only made her want to kiss her harder. 

“Can you guys stop kissing and greet your fucking guests,” Their little moment was disturbed by Aja, who had apparently dyed her hair without telling them. Her lilac waves were pretty, but the lady next to her was even prettier. 

The tall woman next to Aja reminded Brianna of someone, yet she couldn’t quite figure out who. “Shut up,” Brianna laughed, not ready to push Aquaria away. Aquaria, however, was already stepping back, blushing through her makeup. “Dyed Your hair?” 

“Obviously,” Aja reaches for the woman’s hand. “In other news, this is my girlfriend,” Aja ditched the hand and wrapped an arm around the woman’s waist. 

“Hi, I’m Brianna,” She was about to ask if they’ve met before, when the woman spoke. 

“Yeah, I know. How could I ever forget a girl like you.” When she heard her voice, Brianna remembered. Tatianna. Slightly toxic girlfriend. 

Apparently, she got pale, because Aquaria stepped closer again, worried eyes searching for answers on her face. “I’ll tell you later,” She barely breathed out, straightening up again. “Tatianna. Didn’t know you moved here.” 

“Unfortunately we lost touch after we broke up,” Brianna wanted to say _why would that be?_ but didn’t. “But yeah, and thus far, it’s been great. I’ve met Aja, found work as a waitress. It’s going to be okay.” 

“Obviously baby,” Aja leaned closer, resting her head against her shoulder. “It’ll be even better than okay.” 

Still in shock, Brianna turned towards the tray of drinks. “Help yourself. I should probably do stuff… over there.” 

Aquaria followed her, not even touching her, but her presence was calming. “Vixen’s late,” She mumbled, wondering why the first time Vixen’s ever late should be on that very day. Everything seemed unfair. 

Well, not everything. Brianna could basically still feel Aquaria kiss her. It felt silly, but she already missed it. 

All her guests were sitting on the table, food was already spread out and candles and decorations were moved. It looked like a fun time with everyone laughing, smiling, and joking around. 

Aquaria slipped her hand in Brianna’s, giving her a smile before dragging her to two empty chairs. She ended up next to Trixie. 

-

When Vixen finally did arrive, she wasn’t alone. It wasn’t like they didn’t have enough food, but there were no more chairs and no more plates. Brianna was already freaking out a bit when she noticed who the tall woman was. 

“Monét!” She jumped up and rushed to her long lost best friend. “Bitch, you should’ve said you were coming!” As much as she tried to hide it, she had tears in her eyes. She really had missed her funny friend. 

The deep laugh of the woman made her heart swell as she literally had to pull herself off of Monét. “That’d ruin the surprise, wouldn’t it?” 

“But how- what- when?” 

Vixen grinned, having returned from leaving with a plate and a chair. Brianna hadn’t noticed she’d left. “I called her a few times, arranged a car and a skipped a day of school. She’s been here for two days.” 

“And you didn’t tell me! I would’ve loved to show you around and… and-“ 

“No girl, you have exams to ace,” Monét grinned. “Besides, I’m taking you and an extra back with me. Well, for a few days.” 

“What?” Brianna had said ‘what’ around fifty times, it felt like. 

“Yeah, we have this winter wonderland show in the cabaret. It’s all taken care of.” 

Brianna was glowing, and no one would blame her. 

“Now bring me something to eat, all Vixen has is healthy shit and I don’t need that negativity in my life.” 

With a grin, Brianna was hesitant to let go of Monét. It had be /so/ long. She’d missed everything about her, and couldn’t wait to spend a few days with her and watch her show. 

She switched spots with a couple of people so she could sit next to Monét and Aquaria. 

Brianna and Monét had a lot to catch up on, though. They didn’t mean to not talk to anyone else, but it happened. Somewhere between their drinks and the second course, which was Chinese and turkey, Brianna let go or Aquaria’s hand and didn’t reach back. Instead, she was tipsy and leaning against her best friend, laughing until they cried. 

They didn’t catch much of anything, except for Trixie’s laugh, everyone’s complains about Aja and Tatianna being disgustingly affectionate and Vanessa pulling Blair into the bedroom. While Vixen tensed up, Brianna found herself not really thinking about it at all. Monét was with her, what was she supposed to do? 

Tables were being traded back to couches and the dishes were being done by Trixie, Katya, and a very unfortunate Vixen, who had to witness them being… a lot. 

Brianna was still glued to Monét, laughing at silly pictures she had with Manila and Valentina and Naomi, the girls she worked with. She listened her rant about Shea, who she claimed was an actual goddess and about Chad, who ran the place like no one ever could. She even mentioned the eyebrowless redhead who did the bar all by themselves. 

At some point, Aquaria seemed to be tired of being ignored, no matter how happy she’d been about Brianna seeing her friend again. She’d draped herself on Brianna’s lap, basically forcing her to introduce her. 

“Oh, Monét, this is Aquaria,” When she saw only Vanessa looking rather sad on the couch, she leaned in for a quick kiss. “My girlfriend.” 

“Nice to meet you,” Monét acted as if she hadn’t heard every late night rant about her. “You’re even prettier than Bree said you were.” 

“She said Aquaria looked like Cleopatra and a Greek goddess combined with a butterfly, once,” Vanessa laughed, looking less sad when Blair sat down next to her. “That was a wild night.” 

“Okay, drunk things don’t count!” Brianna felt a blush rise to her cheek, but was too tipsy to care too much. “I was definitely drunk when I said that.” 

“You texted me that at eight in the morning,” Vanessa laughed, making Blair giggle softly. Things seemed to be going okay between them. “Like, come on. I’ve done fucking crazy shit, but I’ve never been drunk at eight in the morning, bitch.” 

“Okay, so maybe I wasn’t drunk-“ 

“Sis,” Aja still held Tatianna’s hand, and Brianna felt their eyes on her. “Bree is tiny as fuck, she can drink one beer and be drunk for days.” 

“Not-“ she tried to argue, but Vanessa was already laughing, and Monét was screeching Besides her. Feeling rather embarrassed and distressed, she hadn’t noticed Aquaria turning around in her lap, cupping her face with a bright grin that could mean anything positive. Positive. She leaned in, and Brianna found herself not caring too much about what others thought when they shared a soft and - in her opinion - too short kiss. 

The complaints about PDA and boundaries were blatantly ignored by both blondes. Brianna gave her middle finger to Aja. It was so easy to drown in Aquaria, even when they were just kissing innocently. Hell, she could even get lost in seeing her do anything at all. So maybe Brianna was what could be considered head over heels, but it felt too good to stop. 

When they broke apart they had their own little world, even though it was just for a moment. Monét pushed Brianna rather roughly, and for a second, Brianna had forgotten how strong the woman was. She nearly tumbled over, taking Aquaria with her. Almost. 

“Hey!” 

“Girl, this is still a party, not some sort of weird eye-sex moment.” Everyone joined the roast against their arguably disgusting public kissing. Aquaria was just sitting there, flustered, while Brianna laughed with them, even making jokes about it herself. Aquaria could feel herself falling for the casual tone and loud laugh. 

As much as they all liked the little party and chatting, the fact that the next week would be busy and hard, made them leave around one o’clock. Vixen tended to linger, but Monét was about to fall asleep after her flight and dragged Vixen with her. Only Aquaria stayed behind. And Blair, of course. 

Brianna didn’t want Aquaria to leave. She wanted to hug her to sleep, be there when she woke up and kiss her good morning. 

“You know, if you want to, you can stay.” 

Aquaria raised her brow, the tail was slightly smudged. 

“The bed is small, but we’re not big. I love cuddling, like, with you?” The linger the sentence became, the more insecure Brianna became. 

With a smile, Aquaria nodded, a smile playing on her lips. She let her hand trail to Brianna’s knee, and she wished Blair would still be dating Vanessa, so they could have the whole night for themselves. 

“Oh,” Brianna didn’t know what to say, only knew how to smile. “Yeah, good, you can take some of my clothes, and use the bathroom. Blair will be done any minute now.” 

Aquaria moved back to Brianna, smiling once again and kissing her softly. Her hands trailed through Brianna’s hair, grazing the back of her neck as she gently deepened the kiss. While Brianna didn’t feel the need to speed things up, she couldn’t help but grab her waist, pull her down on her own lap and lean back against the couch. She sighed happily into the kiss as Aquaria stroked her cheek. 

While it felt like they could go on and on forever, they were interrupted by Blair coming back. “Sorry,” She mumbled, still rubbing her hair under an orange towel. “Bathroom’s free.” The scent of roses she carried was light and very Blair. 

With one last kiss, Aquaria seemed to have no problem leaving Brianna’s lap, while she had all the troubles letting her go. 

As soon as the bathroom door fell in its lock, Brianna turned to Blair, though. “So… have you and Vanessa talked?” 

“Yeah,” Blair mumbled softly, pushing the towel down. “And I mean- I miss her. I really do. But… we’re just not right for each other.” 

“Being different doesn’t mean it can’t work,” Brianna tried. She didn’t know everything that had been happening, but it all sounded rather petty. “You can’t say she’s not trying.” 

Blair smiled, shaking her head. “She is. It’s adorable.” And just like that Brianna knew Blair’s heart and mind were fighting. As someone who preferred to listen to common sense, she understood the struggle more than she liked. 

Brianna offered her a smile, sitting a bit straighter on the couch. “I’m not going to tell you what to do, but she talked to me. You should know she misses you and knows she fucked up.” All Brianna wanted was her friend to be happy. 

“I know,” Blair nodded. “I just… don’t know what to do.” 

“That’s okay, you know?” Brianna pushed herself up, hearing Aquaria finish up in the bathroom. “Take your time, just know that I and Vixen will be here for you, whatever you chose or whatever happens.” 

With a soft mumble, Blair nodded, rubbing her fingers through her hair. “Aquaria’s staying over?” 

“Yes,” Even the simple mention of Aquaria made her smile. “I’m so happy with her. Ever since we got closer, she’s all I’ve been thinking about. Like, not a single negative thought or about-“ 

That night. She’d forgotten about it, simply didn’t have time to think about anything but exams, Aquaria, and Blair’s relationship drama. But just like that, it drifted back to the top of her mind, and she knew drowning it would be harder than ever before. 

“About what?” 

Not wanting to worry Blair even more, she shook her head. “Nothing, just a test I forgot about.” 

“Oh,” Blair mumbled, if she noticed it was a lie, she didn’t show it. “Do you mind if I stay up for a bit longer?” 

“Suit yourself,” Brianna breathed out, her eyes shooting towards the opening bathroom door. “I’m right there, okay?” 

Brianna didn’t see Blair’s reaction, her eyes focussed on Aquaria only. She looked good in pink. In Brianna’s pink, fluffy pajamas and her hair brushed and pushed behind her ears. Her eyebrows were much lighter and her lips were a bit stained, and Brianna’s heart skipped eight beats at once. 

“You look great,” Brianna grinned, moving closer to her girlfriend and pushing a strand of hair from her blushing face. “I’ll be with you in a sec, okay?” 

Quicker than ever before, Brianna changed into her sexiest pair of pajamas. She knew it was too cold for silky shorts and a tiny matching shirt, but she trusted Aquaria would keep her warm. Besides, she liked the way it looked with loose curls rolling over her shoulders. 

Before joining Aquaria, Brianna glanced back in the living area, seeing Blair with a blanket, watching television with disinterest, a slight frown on her usually carefree face. As much as she wanted to help, this was something Blair needed to do on her own. 

Silently, she let the door fall shut, reaching the bed. Aquaria was grinning at her. The only part of her that was visible was her face, and she’d never looked better. 

With a small smile, Brianna moved under the covers too, her heart beating faster now that she was actually so close to Aquaria. The other girl seemed to have no problem with it, wrapping her arms around Brianna, resting her head against her shoulder and threading her fingers through her hair ever so softly, pressing a soft kiss against her neck as if they’d done this a hundred times before. 

With her mind and heart racing, Brianna tried to come up with something to say or do, but nothing seemed to feel right. “Thank you for coming tonight,” She ended up whispering, feeling another kiss on her neck, making her blood boil and want to lean down to kiss Aquaria. “I’m really glad you came. And stayed.” 

Aquaria pushed herself up on her elbows, a look of fondness on her face, and Brianna could nearly feel herself falling into the endless pit of love. She should be scared, begin running, even. She was only in her twenties and should save herself one more heartbreak. But when Aquaria leaned down to kiss her, so soft and full and warm and with her hand roaming her body until Brianna couldn’t stop the tiniest moan from leaving her lips, she realized she didn’t care. Aquaria could break her heart over and over again, if she wanted to. Brianna would be waiting, and without a doubt forgive her.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn’t even smut but I’m never writing smut again.

With the sun warming Brianna’s back, sipping a way too expensive cocktail with the most beautiful girl’s head in her lap, she felt better than she had in a long time. 

The sun was setting, and although it blocked out most of the television, the way it painted the white walls a light pink was too beautiful to block out. 

“Monét asked me to meet her later,” Brianna mumbled in between sips. “She’s doing the last number of their regular show and asked me to go eat. Wanna come?” 

Aquaria’s phone slid from before her face to her chest. Slowly she shook her head, typing a quick message. 

_No, you should spend some alone time with your best friend_  
 _Can you order me a pizza though?_

Smiling down at her girlfriend, Brianna spotted a fallen eyelash, and picked it up with her pointy finger. 

“Well, make a wish and hope for the best.” 

Aquaria grinned, pushing herself up just enough to blow the lash from Brianna’s finger. 

“Nope, didn’t work,” 

Aquaria pouted, her beautiful lips seeming even fuller than before. 

“With a kiss, maybe…” 

She didn’t have to ask twice, Aquaria pushing herself up fully to kiss the woman she hoped she’d marry, one day. The woman she was pretty sure she loved. When they pulled back, Aquaria was pouting again, her eyes big and doe-like in a way Brianna had only ever seen Blair pull off. 

"Fine," Brianna huffed, pretending to be annoyed while she knew she would walk to the moon and back for her. "I'll order you a stupid pizza."

Aquaria grinned, leaning in for a quick peck and handing Brianna her phone. She dialed the number Monét had helpfully texted her before they even went on the plane. "Hey, yeah, can I have a four cheese pizza, please?" 

Brianna rambled the address, smiling at Aquaria in the process. "Sure, thank you." She ended, hanging up after. "So, I need to go, you don't need to wait up," Brianna knew Aquaria would. "But _please_ clean up your mess." 

Aquaria threw her head back in silent laughter, shaking her head while Brianna fetched her coat. "Yeah, you can laugh, but we both know it's true," Shrugging it on, she moved back to the girl on the couch. "I'll see you later, okay?" Brianna gave her that one smile that was reserved for Aquaria only; soft and with warm eyes. It was the kind of vulnerable Brianna only wanted to be around her. With just _one_ more kiss, Brianna left, her cheeks burning. While she had to take the train and had no place to sit, forced to stare into an armpit that was rather smelly, her smile was permanent like a tattoo, the thought of Aquaria keeping her warm. So maybe she was already in love. Maybe she already loved Aquaria. It felt like a giggled secret, whispered at a sleepover, followed by yells of teenage girls. She couldn't say she hated it. 

\- 

The club lights were a beautiful and sensual red, casting shadows over a dark haired woman in lingerie and a hat. She was moving around the chair. The best part of the show obviously had already passed, since some of the customers were standing, yelling or clapping. The music began to slow down, and Brianna was just in time to see the woman sit down on the chair, throwing her hat up at the last beat. Everyone clapped and the red light slowly dimmed, making the whole room dark. Over the cheers and applause of the viewers, Brianna heard nothing. When the lights went on again, she saw the familiar shape of Monét, grinning in her long dress that held multiple reveals. She was even wearing a large wig, hiding her short haircut. 

Brianna watched her step forwards on some slow beats, heard her melodic voice begin to sing a song she didn't know. She dipped her head down, running her hand back up her leg. Monét stepped down the little stairs, a large man holding her hand. She kept singing, and Brianna felt her face glow with pride. Her friend was really doing _that_. 

She sat down on the lap of a man, the lyrics taking a more comedic turn as she asked him to unzip her dress. Under it, there was a little yellow leotard. It hugged and showed off her curves at the same time. She threw the dress back on stage, moving more toward the back. As she took the hand of a younger man, spinning him around and dipping him, causing the whole room to laugh, she spotted Brianna. 

With a grin, she moved to her next victim, a pretty woman with bright pink hair, pulling her on her lap, guiding her body into a few shaky dance moves as she mocked her in the lyrics. Everyone laughed, but Brianna might have laughed hardest. 

While Brianna was standing almost against the bar, Monét still moved to her, hugging her in a way that probably wasn't in the script, grabbing her leg and lifting it while adjusting the lyrics. Almost tripping in her heels, Brianna cackled, pushing Monét off her. 

"Alright bitch, your loss," She sang, flicking her large, brown curls behind her back as she picked a man to get close to, eyeing Brianna obviously, making everyone laugh again. 

Brianna shook her head, sticking out her tongue like a five-year-old, making Monét laugh anyway. Her number was ending, and with a few melodic lyrics and rare dance moves, Monét reached the stage again, throwing her hands up as the song ended. 

Cheers, laughter, whistles, and applause filled the room, and Brianna smiled, clapping and yelling right along. 

Even over all that noise, she swore she could hear Monét's loud laugh. 

The bartender spoke to her as soon as the curtain dropped. “Want a drink?” 

“Uh,” Brianna mumbled. “Is the show done? No grand finale?” 

“There’ll be a little song, nothing special,” He smiled. “Want a drink? On the house.” 

“No,” Brianna shook her head, turning back to the stage. “I’m good, thanks.” Her eyes fixated on the stage again, waiting for the curtain to open again. The bartender shrugged, losing interest when another woman moved to the bar with a grin. 

It didn’t take a long time for the curtain to open again, and all the girls were dressed in pretty glitter and big hair. Monét had changed her costume in such a short amount of time and still looked as if she had no trouble doing the simple routine. One of the girls was rather wobbly on her heels, probably holding back the big finale. The moves were simple and fun and Brianna couldn’t stop grinning. 

The song was short and funny, and before Brianna knew it, the room was lit and people began talking, the bar became busy in a matter of moments. Brianna tried to escape the wave of tipsy people who were having a great time and acted like it, when she was pulled from the crowd by a gloved hand and a pink robe with foundation smudges all over. 

“What did you think?” Monét wrapped her in a quick hug, pulling her towards the curtain that was protected by large security guards. 

“I only saw your performance,” Brianna had to nearly run to keep up with Monét’s long and elegant steps. She’d always been a fast walker. “And if the Christmas show is even half that good, we will be found dead.” 

Monét laughed, waving at the guards and pushing Brianna up the stairs. “It’ll be even better, so get ready,” Monét was grinning brightly as she pushed the door open. “Well, this is where I spent most of my time, with these assholes.” 

She was greeted with a shoe being thrown to her head. “Shut up, bitch, you’re the one who makes this place a hell-hole!” 

With another laugh, Monét picked the shoe up and guided a slightly terrified Brianna into the room. The mirror was all lit and scattered. Clothes, feathers, glitter and all kinds of things were scattered across desks and the floor, making it look cluttered and cozy at the same time. 

“This is my girl, Brianna,” Monét pushed a couple of shirts from a chair, letting Brianna sit. “Brianna, these whores are Monique, Shea, Manila, Trinity, and Gia.” 

While the girls changed their heavy makeup for a naked face. Except for Manila, no one gave her much attention. 

“University Brianna?” Manila pulled her lashes off. “We’ve heard much about you, glad you could make it here for the show.” 

“Yeah,” Brianna grinned, watching as Manila went from an intimidating woman to someone who looked kind and happy. “I wouldn’t want to miss this for anything in the world. I miss this bitch.” 

“So who’s coming to dinner later?” Monét asked, changing into a pantsuit but leaving her heavy makeup. “Brianna pays for the drinks.” 

Wanting to protest because she didn’t even have a job, Brianna was cut off before she could even complain. Manila, Gia and Shea were the only ones who could make it. 

— 

“Okay, what the fuck,” Shea laughed, a bit tipsy and leaning against Gia, who was struggling to keep her friend up. 

“Right?” Monét agreed, rolling her eyes at Brianna. “She was such a _loser_.” 

“Hey! Just because I got good grades and you didn’t-“ 

Shea laughed, cutting Brianna off. She saw Gia pushing her off, rolling her eyes. “Girl, you’re so messy, what the fuck?” 

Manila leaned closer to 

 

—-

When Brianna got back to the hotel, she didn’t see Aquaria on the couch. Assuming she went to bed, she tried to be as silent as she possibly could. The lights in the bedroom were still on, but before she peeked inside, Brianna tried to not make a sound. 

Her beautiful girlfriend was laying on top of the covers in nothing but her underwear. While it didn’t look like anything fancy, just a pink set with lace detailing, Brianna’s heart stopped beating, got pushed into her throat and stopped her from breathing. 

“Hey,” She swallowed, which was hard with her heart still in her throat. 

Slightly flustered, Aquaria pushed herself up, reaching for a sheet of paper she had prepared. 

_Your favorite color!_

Not sure what to say, Brianna smiled, ignoring the fact that she was still in her coat and uncomfortable shoes as she stepped closer to the bed, trying to take her eyes off Aquaria’s body. She couldn’t. Aquaria, however, didn’t seem to mind at all. With a small, teasing smile, she moved closer in a way that was both enchanting and sexy. Her hair was more fluffy than usual, and looked softer than it ever had. By the way she smelt like a sea breeze and soft vanilla, Brianna assumed she showered. Not that she, in that moment, cared at all. 

Aquaria got up on her knees, her hands wrapping around the back of Brianna’s neck while tugging lightly on the little hairs on the nape of her neck, Aquaria forced Brianna closer. 

Brianna’s hands reached for Aquaria’s waist, pulling her closer to her body and allowing herself to squeeze her waist. Instead of Aquaria’s lipstick, Brianna could taste her own chapstick; strawberry. She hadn’t even noticed the stuff on her lips because it was the exact shade as her own, yet it tasted sweet and sticky against her lips. Brianna could almost visualize her own lipstick smeared on Aquaria’s face. 

The kiss was slow and soft, but it was obvious Aquaria wasn’t planning on keeping it like that when she dragged Brianna’s bottom lip between her teeth, a hand raking through her hair before moving down, to the small of her back to pull her even closer against her, if that was even possible. 

Every fiber of Brianna’s Being was on fire; her heart was beating in her throat, but in a nice, exciting way because it really was that time. They were going to have sex for the first time. 

Brianna would lie if she said she hadn’t thought about it, would lie if she hadn’t dreamt about it being everything it would turn out to be. She wouldn’t let the chance slip. 

Gently moving her hands from Aquaria’s hips to her thighs, Brianna tugged at them, pulling her lips from Aquaria’s to move them along her jaw, down her neck, with her teeth gazing them just enough to make Aquaria shudder. 

Pulling her legs, Brianna whispered: “Get on your back, please,” Letting Aquaria push her coat off before she gently forced her to do so. 

Aquaria forced Brianna’s lips against hers again, letting her hand lip into Brianna’s pants, squeezing her but through her panties, the little whine leaving her lips. Brianna couldn’t help but smile, sitting up enough to take her own shirt off and trail her fingers over Aquaria’s body. 

Brianna gently kissed her next, her jaw, teasing the corners of her mouth before going back down. As she reached Aquaria’s shoulder, perfectly soft and warm under her touch, she moved a hand to beneath her back, curling around the bra strap before fiddling to undo it. 

As it hit the floor, Aquaria’s legs wrapped around Brianna, her hips moving up to grind into her hips as she gently kissed Aquaria’s breast, sucking and leaving marks only she would’ve able to see. 

Brianna could _feel_ Aquaria get impatient and needy underneath her, felt her hands roam her body, and heard the little whine’s as Brianna slowed down even more. Deciding that it maybe wasn’t the right time for so much teasing, Brianna kissed down her stomach, letting her teeth gaze the soft part of her her sides, allowed herself to enjoy the feeling of Aquaria tugging her hair. 

Her fingers dropped down her leg as Brianna kissed down Aquaria’s legs, kissing up on the insides of her thighs. The winners that left Aquaria’s mouth were like a blissful song sent just for her ears, and Brianna enjoyed every second of it. 

Her hands were lightly squeezing her girlfriend’s thighs, her kisses showing down when she was close to her panties. With feather light moves, she pressed her lips against Aquaria’s panties. She gasped and Brianna felt her hands through her hair, over the covers. She didn’t know what to do with them. 

With just two fingers, Brianna pulled down Aquaria’s panties, which quickly joined the dust and other clothes on the floor, and Brianna leaned closer again. She could feel Aquaria suck in a breath, which was so much better than hearing it. 

With her hands pressed against Aquaria’s sides, her hips, fingers trailing gentle circles against the soft skin. With small and soft kisses against her thighs, Brianna realized she was nervous. It wasn’t like she was inexperienced, but the first time was… hard. Trying to figure out what she liked. 

So, when Brianna was finally ready with teasing, she went in carefully, full of caution. And while she certainly enjoyed /going/ down on Aquaria, it was far more enchanting and magical to feel her body under hers. Feel her hands tangling in her hair, feel her squirming when Brianna did something she liked. She loved the little whimpers that kept coming faster and fasting, until it was like a symphony. 

Brianna let go of Aquaria’s waist when Aquaria didn’t seem to know what to do with her hands anymore, and let hers slip in Aquaria’s before pressing a finger against Aquaria’s pussy as well. From the loud breath and squeeze Aquaria gave her hand, Brianna could only assume she liked it. 

Brianna was careful to keep it gentle and sweet, hopefully not crossing a single boundary but speeding up. She wanted Aquaria to get off, wanted her to feel her high before falling asleep. Sure enough, getting Aquaria there wasn’t hard. With just one finger and Brianna’s mouth on her clit, Aquaria came. While she didn’t moan, her breath was hitched, and the wimpers were just as melodic to Brianna’s ears. 

When Aquaria was laid still, Brianna grinned, moving back up with a trail of tiny kisses. “Hope that wasn’t too bad,” 

Aquaria smiled, her arms snaking around Brianna’s neck and pulling her closer. 

With both girls laughing softly, Brianna kissed Aquaria’s cheek, feeling more in love than ever before. “I’m gonna shower really quick, okay?” 

With a pout, Aquaria let go of Brianna, who was still in her pants and bra. She didn’t want to shower, but had to. She knew that as soon as Aquaria was washed off her, Brianna would want to have her all over her again. 

Obviously, Brianna was wet, ever so desperate for Aquaria’s touch herself. She, however, hadn’t wanted to press it, and thought that maybe just getting Aquaria off would be good enough. And while it had definitely been amazing, Brianna was left frustrated. 

She hoped a shower would do her good, or at least take her mind off her vagina. 

Fortunately for her, Brianna heard the shower curtain slip open, but before she could turn around, slender, cool arms were wrapped around her waist. When she felt the soft, still dry hair, brush against her shoulder, followed by a kiss pressed against her neck, Brianna leaned back into Aquaria’s touch. 

“You could’ve said you wanted to join,” Brianna hummed, all too thrilled about the sudden visit. “Not that I’m complaining.” 

Aquaria grinned, turning her around and pressing a needy, pushy kiss against her lips. Her hair was getting wet, the drops only hitting her now. Quickly, Aquaria turned the water off, pushing Brianna’s back against the wall. While it was already cooling down, she didn’t notice. Aquaria’s hands were all over her, leaving hot marks and sending electricity through her whole body. And when Aquaria let her fingers slip between Brianna’s legs, feeling hot water against her skin would have been cooling.


End file.
